"There was an attempt to block the transfer of the Martians that were rounded up in yesterday's sweeps," he said. The day before, in response to the firebombing of their van and their agents, the FLEB had performed a planet wide sweep of all of the cities, rounding up and arresting more than two hundred Martian separatists.
"An organized protest?" Laura asked.
"Pretty much," he said. "It was the Triad chapter of the Martian Retirement Club that staged it. They tried to block the prisoners from being placed on the trains to TNB. About four to five hundred people put themselves in front of the access tunnels on the main loading platform. The agents fired on them almost immediately, which made everyone scatter of course, and then they rushed the prisoners onto the trains. They left the scene before any of the Triad authorities showed up. When the cops and the dip-hoes arrived there wasn't a single FLEB agent there."
"Bastards," Laura said, shocked.
"There was a news team there covering the protest when it happened. The whole thing was caught on MarsGroup cameras. It should be on the news now if you want to watch it."
She nodded and instructed her computer to turn on MarsGroup primary. The screen flickered to life and a live shot of the main access platform to Triad Naval Base was shown. The loading platform was a wide, open area enclosed by the thick plexiglass and steel walls that made up the edge of the orbiting city. It was here where personnel were cleared through security and loaded onto one of the trains that transported them through one of four one kilometer tram tunnels that connected the city to the huge base. Except for flying in in a spacecraft of some sort, these tunnels were the only way to get to TNB. The platform was usually an orderly place, swept clean and scrubbed daily by enlisted spacers from the base and guarded by armed military police. Now it was the scene of chaos as the camera panned from place to place, showing dozens of Triad police officers and dip-hoes sorting through masses of bloody bodies lying on the ground.
"Most of the more seriously wounded have already been taken away by health and safety personnel," a shocked MarsGroup reporter was voicing over. "What you see here are the more lightly wounded and the dead, who are being sorted out for transport or relocation to the temporary morgue on the Triad end of the platform. As you can see from these shots, many of the protesters that were gunned down by the FLEB agents were elderly since those over age sixty make up the majority of the civilian population of Triad. Reports from the Triad police state that none of the protesters were found to be armed. Most of them, as you can see, were carrying protests signs only." The signs in question could be seen lying next to many of the screaming or deathly silent protestors. The motto: FREE OUR PEOPLE! was the most prevalent, although there were a few others. Bullet holes could plainly be seen in a few of the signs.
"Kevin," she said, feeling tears forming in her eyes. "My God! What are we doing here?"
"I know how you feel," he said, sitting down next to her and putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. "These were old people. Grandmothers and grandfathers trying to pick up our fight for us. They were gunned down like dogs."
"And we caused this, Kevin," she said. "We knew that the FLEB would crack down on people! We counted on it to further our cause!"
"We did not cause this, Laura," he told her firmly. "Nor could we have predicted that things would come to this."
"People are dying because I've challenged the Earthlings and riled up the Martians! They're dying! They're being gunned down in the streets, hauled away to Earth prisons! Don't tell me we didn't cause this! My whole intent was to make things intolerable for the people so that they would support a revolt!"
"And that is what's happening," Jackson said. "This incident will come close to breaking the camel's back I would think. But you did not make those FLEB agents fire on citizens. You did not order the FLEB agents to crack down and haul anyone off. All that you did was force the Earthlings to behave in a way that you knew they were capable of when threatened. You provided the threat, Laura, they provided the violence, and unfortunately, this is the only way we have to get our people to follow us."
"It's manipulative," she said. "I'm pushing them around like chess pieces in order to further my goals."
"Not your goals Laura, our goals. The goals of the Martians. What we've set in motion is a necessary evil in order to achieve freedom. You had to make the Earthlings step over the line. You had to break the chain of tolerance that has kept us subservient for generations. It was the only way."
"That doesn't make me feel any better," she said. "And it doesn't help me sleep at night."
"And you wouldn't be the person you are if it didn't bother you," he said. "I'm sure you feel like you're as manipulative and soulless as a corporate manager, but you're not. You have a conscience, Laura and its no surprise that yours is being dinged by what is going on here. But try to keep the big picture in mind. We're doing the right thing."
She sighed, her eyes still watching the horrifying scenes from Triad on the monitor. The camera was showing a man of about eighty. He had two bullet holes in his forehead and a puddle of brains and blood beneath him. His eyes were wide open and staring, an expression of shock and horror forever frozen upon his face. "I'm trying," she said. "It gets harder every day, but I'm trying."
"MarsGroup will be calling soon, trying to get a statement from you," he told her gently.
"I'll be ready," she said.
"Good." He gave her one more brief hug of comfort and then released her. "Keep the faith, Laura," he said. "My contacts on Earth tell me that a grand jury is being assembled in Denver. They seem to think it may be for you."
"How much longer will it take if it is?" she asked.
"A week or so to assemble and investigate the jury members," he said. "Another two weeks or so to present whatever evidence they whipped up. I'd say that within a month they'll come looking to take you out of here. Can you hold out that long?"
"I can hold out forever," she said. "The question is will the people hold out that long?"
Laura gave a scathing statement to the MarsGroup channels less than an hour later. She called for an immediate independent investigation into the events on Triad and the arrest and trial of the FLEB agents that had fired on the protestors. "Those people are common murderers," she said, her words being transmitted all over the planet. "They fired without provocation on an unarmed, peaceful protest against their fascist tactics. They belong in prison for what they did and if there is any justice in this solar system — something that seems more and more doubtful every day — they will be put there."
The big three media channels downplayed the incident as much as they could. Though they were competing corporations, all three reported the story virtually the same way. Their take on the matter was that a violent group of protestors attempted to free a band of hardened terrorists that were being extradited to Earth for trial. In the ensuing scuffle the "besieged" FLEB agents were "forced" to fire their weapons to protect themselves and prevent the escape of violent criminals. It was reported that "a few" people were killed or injured in the fracas. No video clips or interviews were shown and the entire segment carried less than a thousand lines of text on the print sites, less than thirty seconds of coverage on the video sites.
That evening, at 6:00 PM New Pittsburgh time, Laura Whiting gave one of her speeches. The primary topic was the Second Martian Massacre (that phrase had already achieved proper noun status among the Martians) and what she felt the reaction to it should be.