The sheer boredom was a worse enemy than the marines. About the only thing there was to do was watch MarsGroup on the Internet screens or play poker. Jeff and Hicks had both decided that the latter of these choices was far superior. Their companions at the table — Sanchez, Valentine, and Xenia — were the crew of one of the tanks that provided overwatch to their platoon when they were out in the field.
"Okay... cards?" Hicks asked, picking up the deck. "How many you want, Mr. Jacks or better?"
Jeff took the deuce out of his hand and tossed it down in front of Hicks. "Just one," he said.
There was a murmur around the table at his actions, a few disquieted looks. Jeff did a good job of keeping his poker face neutral, especially when he looked at the new card he'd been given and saw it was another four. He had a full house! A full fucking house!
But Xenia only took one card as well. What did she have? Had she just pulled down a full house as well? If she had, odds were that it would be higher than the paltry fours over eights he was holding. He looked at her, trying to read her emotions but it was impossible. She had been playing the game longer than Jeff.
"Could be I have straight flush," she told him sweetly when she saw his perusal. "Or it could be I have a broken straight. That's what makes the game interesting, isn't it, Waters?"
Jeff returned her smile, an expression he'd rarely offered to anyone in the past, particularly people of the female persuasion. He, like all of the other men at the table, was strongly attracted to her although he held very few illusions about actually having a chance with her. In the first place, he was still married to Belinda, the woman who was still sitting back in their one bedroom apartment in the Heights, living off welfare money, contributing nothing to the revolution, her ambition in life to pump out her one child so she could score the extra bedroom and the extra welfare allotments that came with it. Jeff had no problem with the thought of cheating on her, in fact he planned to never touch her again, to dissolve their blessed union as soon as the fighting was over and he had a chance to take a little breather, but the most significant barrier between himself and Xenia was their upbringing. Xenia had been brought up in an employed family living in the Casting Meadows section of Eden — a solid, middle-class neighborhood. Her father had been a mid-level manager for MarsTrans, one of the highest positions a Martian could hope to rise to in the Earthling corporate system. Xenia herself was an educated woman, the holder of a bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering. She had been working for AgriCorp as a planting supervisor when the revolution came. She was articulate and well spoken, everything Jeff fancied he wasn't. He knew there couldn't possibly be anything she would see in a multi-generational ghetto dweller five years her junior, but still, she was always friendly to him, always had a kind word to say to him, and genuinely seemed to like his company despite their differences. In the back of his mind there was a part that always seemed to be wondering if there was some spark there.
"This is startin' to look really bad," said Hicks. "Dealer takes two. How bout you, Zen? What do ya, want?"
"Three," Valentine said in disgust. He slapped his discards down hard enough to send one flying off the table. Hicks picked it up wordlessly and then dealt him three more.
"Okay," Hicks said after giving everyone a minute or so to peruse their cards, "the bet's to you, Waters. What do ya say?"
"Half a credit," he said.
"Hmmm," said Xenia, casting a wary eye upon him. "Someone seems to think he has something going on here."
"Could be," Jeff said. "You in?"
"I'll see your half and raise you another quarter credit," she said.
"Fuck this shit," Hicks said, tossing down his cards. "Dealer folds."
"I'm out too," said Zen. His cards joined Hicks'.
"Well?" Xenia asked Jeff. "You gonna put up?"
Just what did she have? Was she bluffing? Or did she really have his full house beat? Did she think he was bluffing? He decided to push the envelope a little. "I'll see your quarter and raise you another half," he said.
She hardly blinked. "Call," she said. "Let's see what you got, tough boy."
He took a deep breath and laid his cards on the table. "Full house," he said. "Fours over eights."
Her poker face collapsed, turning to a frown of disgust. "Oh fuck me raw with an apple picker," she said. She put her cards down. They were the eight through queen, all in a nice order but of multiple suits. "I thought you were bluffing. I finally fill in a goddamn straight and your scraggly ass gets a full house. I hate this game."
"Its kind of a microcosm of life, wouldn't you say?" Sanchez asked, giving her a meaningful look. He was on the prowl for her as well and seemed to be hoping that his status as a semi-educated man would help make a connection with her. Sometimes it seemed like it was working, sometimes, like now for instance, it didn't.
"What the fuck's a microcosm?" Hicks asked. Like Jeff, he was a product of the ghetto school system, which was to say he had dropped out shortly after ninth grade and was barely literate.
"A small example that symbolizes a larger concept," Xenia replied, flashing her warm look, her smile at Hicks now.
"Huh?" he asked.
"It's like this poker game, this hand we just played," she said. "You can look at it as a microcosm of the war."
"How's that?" asked Jeff.
She looked at him. "You're a beginner to this game," she said. "Someone that a more experienced player like me would assume an easy target, a walkover. You bet high and risked a lot while I assumed you were trying a half-assed bluff to try to rook me out of the pot. However you weren't really bluffing. You were sitting there with a full house to my straight. I let you draw me in because of my underestimation of your knowledge and abilities and I got my ass kicked. You represent us greenies. I represent the Earthlings. The hand was a microcosm of what's going on outside in the wastelands. Do you understand now?"
"Whoa," said Hicks, his eyes showing awe. "That is fuckin' static, Xenia. Damn, I wish I had me some AgriCorp green to think that one over with."
"No shit," said Jeff. "I think I fuckin' love you."
She giggled and actually blushed a little. "I'm sure your wife wouldn't be too thrilled to hear your proclamation, but I'm glad I could help explain the concept to you. Now then, shall we deal?"
"Oh... right," Hicks said. He looked down at his PC. "Waters takes the pot. Valentine deals."
"Four point two credits transferred to Waters' account," the PC replied. "Deal transferred to Valentine."
"Right," Valentine said, picking up the cards. "I guess this is a microcosm of tomorrow, right? A shuffle of the cards, a new hand, a new set of circumstances to symbolize what is going to be thrown at us next."
"Exactly!" Xenia said, delighted, giving him the warm look now. "Very well put."
Valentine shrugged, feigning shyness. "Not bad for vermin, huh?"
"I wish you guys would stop calling yourselves that," Xenia said. "It's such an offensive word."
"It doesn't offend us," Valentine said, "so why should it offend you if we call ourselves what we are?"
"Because a vermin is a parasite, something that leaches off of society," Xenia said. "To apply it to a human being is... well... wrong."
"Is that what it means?" Hicks said angrily. "Motherfuck! Now I am pissed!"
"I gotta say," Jeff said, "that I never really knew the exact definition of that word either, but now that it's pointed out to me, I guess you employed people had it right on the money, didn't you?"