The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.

Havelock Ellis

Diamonds in the Sky

They said that from Earth, the stars looked like diamonds. Salen Kotch couldn't say from personal experience, and unless things changed in the Sol system, he doubted that he'd ever know. It was nearly impossible to see the stars from Mars, as breaks in the haze of dust that blanketed the planet were few and far between. And being garrisoned at Utopia Dome didn't give you much of a chance to see the stars anyway.

The dome's gym offered no chance of looking at the outside. At some point, before he was born, and before it had been removed, the designers had installed a star map in the ceiling that would simulate the night sky, so that the sons and daughters of Mars would have a sense of where they were in the universe. If they were so inclined, they could dim the lights, activate the map, and get as close to actual diamonds as was possible for many of them. SetDef might show the Martian-born images of their ships sailing through the solar system, defending their claims against the imperialists of Earth, but the harsh truth was that if you survived training, chances were you were going to stay on Mars until the day you died. SetDef had only so many ships. Ships were hard to maintain. Human beings were hard to maintain as well, what with food, water, and air. That wasn't to say anything concerning artificial gravity.

It was in artificial gravity that Salen trained. It was evening, though he only had his chronometer for that. Most of the other cadets had turned in, but he'd stayed put. Not weights right now, just a jog along the treadmill, which according to its readout, had taken him the equivalent of eight klicks. Figured he could at least get up to ten.

"Bloody hell, you're still in here?"

Yes, he was still in here, and no, he wasn't going to say that. Still, that wouldn't stop Rayla from walking in. Rayla, who could always best him in brains, but never in brawn. Rayla, who was a distraction in more ways than he cared to admit. Rayla, who walked across the gym floor to stand in front of Salen as he chugged along.

"Hello?" she asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

He grunted.

"Yeah, yeah, I feel it too. Y'know, you could just…" She took a breath, her faced red. "Can I please turn the gravity down?"

Salen grunted again.

"Okay, I'm going to take that as a yes." She pressed a button on a remote she carried, and over the next few seconds, Salen felt the change take the room, and take his body. Like all SetDef cadets in interior exercises, he'd been training in 1g. The gravity of Earth, the gravity that the Earthen enforced their tyranny over the stars, the gravity they'd have to fight in if they ever took the fight to those bastards. It had been torture initially, and even now, he would be lying if he said that the stress didn't get to him. Humans had evolved on a world with much higher gravity than this one, but living on Mars, the body adjusted to the conditions. That meant a much higher tolerance to radiation, but bodies that were taller, but frailer. Even if they trained in 1g, drills in the Martian sands had to be done in the sands of Mars itself. And if he made it into space, he'd still have to alternate between 1g training, and 0.38g everywhere else.

"See?" Rayla asked. "Much better."

Salen grunted again.

"Yeah, sure, okay, I'll just let you go through this, then maybe I can get something more than 'ugh' and 'ah.'"

"Bleh," Salen grunted.

Rayla stared at him. "I'm sorry?"

"Bleh. You forgot bleh."

"Oh, right. Bleh." She smiled. "I like bleh. Bleh's good."

Salen glanced back at the display – 8.31km. He had awhile to go before he could call it quits for tonight.

Rayla didn't say much after that. She just began lifting some weights, but she wasn't putting her all into it, and Salen could see that. Still, she was talking. "So, anyway, had Captain Yuktoban visit the dome today. There's talks of some of the cadets being chosen for a shakedown run to Eros."

Salen remained silent. He just kept running.

"Only a few though," she continued.

He kept running.

"Like, the best of the best."

He kept running, even as she came over to see him.

"Okay," she said. "This is where you're meant to at least feign interest."

"I am interested," he said. He glanced back at the display – 8.55km. "That's why I'm training."

"Yeah, because of course running on a treadmill is going to prepare you for space."

"Right, and setting the gravity to Mars normal is going to put you ahead."

Rayla sighed. "You do know how the world works right? There's only one gravity that matters, and that's the gravity we live in."

"For now," Salen murmured. He kept running.

"Yeah, except-"

"Do you know why they took out the star map?" Salen asked. He pointed upwards as he continued to run.

"No."

"Distractions," he said. "Mars is Mars. Indulgence is the luxury of Earthen, who don't appreciate what they have, which means they have to reach out across the Sol system to steal what's ours. Some point, some person figured that as we trained to take the fight to them, we shouldn't be distracted by some light display." He saw the treadmill clock in at 9.05km, and he brought it to a halt. "Personally, I think it's a shame."

"Why's that? You want to see the stars."

"I do. Because it's a reminder of what we fight for." He got off the treadmill, picked up his flask from the floor beside it, and gulped down the water. "Diamonds in the sky, as the Earthen call them."

He took another sip. It was water taken from Mars's north pole. Back in the early days of Martian colonization, water had to be brought in from places like Earth and Luna. Now, decades after that, Mars was self-sufficient, least as far as water went. Same way it was self-sufficient in everything from iron to uranium.

On the other hand, Earth was still the breadbasket of the Sol system, and the Earthen were oh so happy to get their shipments of rocks from Mars in exchange for some crumbs from the basket. He wiped his forehead and sat down on a bench, sipping more from his flask. He figured that by now, Rayla would have something witty to say.

"Twinkle twinkle," she murmured.

He looked up at her – she'd said something, but he'd hardly call it "witty."

"Twinkle twinkle," she repeated. "That's an Earthen nursery rhyme isn't it?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"Well, if you paid attention in cultural studies, you'd…okay, that actually explains a lot."

Salen grunted – he had no interest in the culture of his oppressors. Mars had to build its own culture, not be shackled to the culture of those over 200 million miles away.

"It's a little thing they sing," Rayla said. "Goes, twinkle twinkle little star…"

Oh God, if you're there, kill me now.

"…how I wonder what you are. Up above-"

"We know what stars our," Salen said. "They're balls of plasma."

"Yes, but that's not the point," Rayla said. "Now, it continues with 'up above the world so high…'"

"But they're not above worlds, worlds orbit them. Above is just systemic of two-dimensional thinking rather than three-dimensional thinking, which is absolutely essential for space navigation and-"

"Like a diamond in the sky," Rayla snapped. "Which is a phrase you're already familiar with."

He blinked. "Like a diamond in the sky comes from a song told to little children?"

"More or less."

He got up, feeling disgusted. He began to head for the sparring mat.

"I can sing more," Rayla said, as she followed him. "Like, there's a song about rowing a boat down a stream…"

Salen grunted.

"Or a man who had a farm. McDuff or something like that. Has a lot of animals on it too."

Farms. Streams. Things Mars would never have within his lifetime. Maybe never at all. The Earthen needed Mars for its mineral resources far more than as a place for colonization. It appeared that after decades of tearing apart their world, they were happy to heal it while Mars was defiled in turn. It was why groups like SetDef existed at all.

"Or, I could-"

"Rayla, I know you're smart, and that you know you're smart, but for once in your life, could you please stop talking about stuff I don't actually care about?"

"Oh. Sure."

Salen, who'd reached the mat, got into a fighting stance, one drilled into him through years of instructors who'd called him everything from maggot to reprobate. Rayla, who'd undergone the same treatment, got into hers as well.

"One gee," Salen said.

She frowned.

"You want to blow off steam with me, set it to one gee."

"I…" She sighed. "Okay. Fine." She pressed the remote and winced. So did Salen too for that matter, as the gravity increased. He took a breath, as did Rayla. Unlike her, he wasn't too bothered by it.

"Fitting that they're called diamonds," he said. He threw a punch, and Rayla moved back.

"Really? How so?" She tried to punch him as well, but he had no difficulty blocking it. She was struggling in the increased gravity, and it was affecting her movement.

"Diamonds are, or were, valuable. How fitting then that the stars of the universe be named after them? More worlds to plunder, as the Earthen did to their home."

"Technically," Rayla said, as Salen tried to kick her but she grabbed the leg… "it's our home as well."

Salen flipped back and got into a different stance. "What?"

"Earth. Home of mankind."

"By the same logic, any Earthen could call Africa their home." He let out another kick, and this time, Rayla failed to block it, being knocked down onto the map. "Do the Earthen do so?"

She got to her feet, gritting her teeth. "Different scenarios."

"No. We're Martians. We'll never stop being Martians." She tried a kick of her own, but he brought his hand down on the leg, knocking it away. "We share blood with the Earthen, and that's it. So when they look to the sky, when they look to their diamonds, when they look to Mars…they can't have it. If they do, they'll ruin them like they did their home."

Rayla tried to punch him, but again, he had no trouble blocking her. She took a breath before every movement, likely down to the increased gravity. So it was with great ease that he brought her close to him, locking his arms around hers.

"Look at you," she whispered. "Ever the little patriot."

"That's the idea," he said, frowning.

While he frowned, she smiled. "Meant that as a good thing. I mean…" She took a breath. "Well, doesn't matter. Our service will end eventually, and if we're lucky, you and me…" She nodded up to the roof of the gym. "We could see the stars while we're at it."

He smiled. "That's really what you want, isn't it? To get the cadetship. To see the stars. Those diamonds."

"Well, yes," she said. She took another breath. "But, I mean, you and me…we could…y'know…"

Salen smiled at her. Blushing, Rayla smiled back.

He then broke the lock, along with her arm.

Rayla screamed as she collapsed onto the mat, clutching it. For a moment, Salen felt sorry for her. Children, teens, even adults broke bones all the time. But that was in Martian gravity. It being broken in 1g, she must have been in agony. But as she screamed, as she writhed, as the tears fell down her cheeks as she looked up at him in bewilderment…the moment ended. The sons and daughters of Mars were stronger than the Earthen in so many ways, but growing up on the red planet took a toll on their bodies. If they couldn't improve their bodies, then what chance did they have of getting freedom?

"Before you say anything," Salen said, "I'm not sorry."

"You…you…"

"Yes, I broke your arm. That happens in sparring practice." He knelt down and brushed a tear from her eye. "I'm certain Yuktoban will be impressed with that pretty head of yours, but he isn't going to want a cadet with a broken arm."

"That's…"

"Night Rayla." He went over to retrieve his flask before heading out. "I'd put the star map on for you, but some smart arse removed it."

"You're…you're a bastard!" she screamed out.

"I know. That's why I'm the one getting the cadetship. That's why I'm going to keep climbing the ranks and one day, command the entire SDF for the good of Mars." He headed out as Rayla continued to scream and call him far worse.

Should have broken her jaw instead.

"You're never going into space! Never!"

Definitely should have broken that.

He kept walking. Not knowing that in a few days' time, a review of what happened that night would be undertaken. Not knowing that a few days after that, he'd be serving as a second lieutenant on the SDS Viking.

That at last, above the dust, he could see the diamonds.