[ CW ] '' Grandpa , tell me again how you lost your original eyes during the Earth-Luna-Mars war . ''

`` Why do you want to hear about that old dust-up again, Jimmy?'' Grandpa asked. Secretly, Grandpa welled with pride, with all his heart knowing that the colonial system war had made him a man, and more. “ Because that ’ s how you and Grandma met! ” Jimmy exclaimed, always one for adventure and romance in his stories. Grandpa was glad to oblige, he had been without Marta for some years now, and relished any chance to relive their days together. 
 
 “ Well, where can I start? I guess at the beginning, so you can hear the whole thing. What do you think? ” 
 
 “ Yeah! ” 
 
 “ Okay, buddy. Then you have to promise to go to sleep, ok? We ’ ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow. Let ’ s see, where was I… oh yes! There I was, stationed on Luna, in a backup regiment of ex-o ’ s. They were old, clunky models back then. We didn ’ t even have neural interface, just plain old motion enhancement and a bunch of armor for protection. My ‘ toon was placed at Luna V, sun-side, and we really didn ’ t expect any action that day, or any day, for that matter. Luna duty sucked when you couldn ’ t see Earth. ” Jimmy laughed inwardly at Grandpa ’ s saltiness, but was rapt with attention just the same. Grandpa told the story a bit different every time. “ As you know, I was only drafted into the Luna army after Earth and Luna came to an agreement to combine forces against the Martians. They were winning, you know. Some of the bigwigs even thought that they ’ d be able to invade Earth in a few years, if they were left to their own devices. ” 
 
 “ So there we were, on that boring detail at Luna V, babysitting a bunch of munitions. Not like you babysit your little sister, Jimmy, these things didn ’ t need any care at all. Just make sure nobody comes and jiggers with them, you see? I was on rest, and the sergeant in my toon had taken up watch not five minutes before he saw them dropping. The Martians, Jimmy, they were coming to snuff your old Gran ’ out, and steal all of our bombs! Sarge rousted us all out, and we were on high alert, boy! ” Jimmy was grinning, his favorite part was coming up. 
 
 “ So there we were, ready to do battle with these slimy Martian colonists who wanted to take our bombs and use them all up on the people of Earth. We had our rifles at the ready, our bullets set to disable the martian ex-o suits -- standing orders to capture the enemy for interrogation. At that point we still hadn ’ t found their factories out on Titan, and the Earth boys were hot for that intel! I saw a few of my squadmates shuddering as their rifles cycled, they were taking potshots, standard procedure to keep the enemy at bay as long as possible. I imagined I could hear the crack of their weapons, but you know that ’ s impossible, right Jimmy? ” Jimmy nodded, but Grandpa explained anyway. “ The only way we can hear things is when there ’ s air around to carry the soundwaves to our earholes, and you know there ’ s no air out there in the great black yonder. ” 
 
 “ Yes, grandpa, ” Jimmy uttered obediently, his eyes rolling inward. If he didn ’ t play along, Grandpa would postpone the story for another science lecture, and he might never get back to the good part! 
 
 “ Anyway, ” Grandpa continued, sated for the moment. “ We never saw the scouts drop in, it was a new style of ex-o, something with an active cloaking technology. Plus, they were small, almost child-size to our eyes, sitting in the cockpit of our ex-o ’ s as we were. We must have been 3 meters off the ground in those old hunks! They cooked our goose Jimmy, and I mean plucked n' boiled n' roasted. Blew most of us off our feet in that first blast, and scattered the rest when their heavy armor moved in. I ended up on my back, my servos mostly melted, helpless you see? My vision programs were failing, so I thumbed my visor control to see if I could see anything with my real eyes. Man, I tell you what! That old sun almost blinded me when the visor first slid open! But it was only bright for a second, one of those crafty Martian scouts had come up and stood right over me. I ’ ll never know why she did it, Jimmy, but right then your Grandma opened her visor, and we stared into each other ’ s eyes. I fell in love right away, it sounds like something you might see in a story on the ‘ tube, but it ’ s god ’ s honest truth, boy. I fell in love; she fired 3 shots into my midsection. It crippled my ex-o, and paralyzed my real body. Not sure how she managed that, one-in-a-million shot, the doc told me later on. She stepped out of my view, and just then Jimmy, I thought your old Gran ’ was cooked for sure. I laid there, staring into the sun, which is much, much brighter out there, you understand? You can go blind staring at the sun in less than a minute down planetside, but up there it only took about 10 seconds. My vision was burned out, son, but some part of me was glad the last thing I looked at was your Grandma. ” 
 
 Jimmy's breathing was getting slower, more evenly spaced, and Grandpa decided it was high time to wrap it up. “ Your dear old Grandma, well I guess she fell in love too, something like how a person falls in love with a hurt puppy, you understand? ” Jimmy nodded, understanding written on his smooth, unblemished face. He ’ d been awarded his first kitten, for good behavior, not a month past. “ She ran back to me, after their business was over at Luna V, hooked me to her suit, and dragged me all the way back to the secret Martian dropspace near our post. They shipped me back to Mars, a prisoner of war, and she would come to visit me sometimes. I couldn ’ t see her, of course, I was dead blind, but I knew it was her. Who else would come, every couple months, and just hold my hand, without saying a word? It was the darndest thing, but it gave me something to live for down in those cells. I knew if I could survive, make it back to Luna, or Earth, the docs would fix me up with some new eyes and I ’ d be good as new, and maybe, just maybe, I ’ d be able to lay eyes on the angel that was coming to visit me. See, the Martian docs had fixed my spinal cord, so I wasn ’ t paralyzed anymore. Told me it was for their convenience, they didn ’ t want to have to carry their prisoners around, or spoon-feed them. And they weren ’ t for torturing or murdering their prisoners, like Earth was during the war. They treated us humanely, and it was my first inkling that maybe this war wasn ’ t such a righteous crusade anyway. ” Jimmy ’ s eyelids were fluttering, and Grandpa rushed to the end, more for his own benefit than for Jimmy ’ s. 
 
 “ I was there a few years, by my reckoning, when the announcement came down that the war was over. Mars had won; Luna had flip-flopped, and their combined forces squeezed out the last of that war-hungry regime down Earth-way. Prisoners were given choice of assignment, either in the new unified Sol system military outfit, work release to try and build a life, or assignment to the generational colony ships that were planning on setting out to AC in the next ten years or so. I ’ d always been a pilot of something, jets, ex-o ’ s, colony ship, it was all the same to me, so my choice was clear. I signed up and what do you know, they fixed my eyes for me! Actually, upgraded; these babies were state-of-the-art when I had them installed! What really surprised me though, was your Grandma, coming to get me, looking every bit the picture I had seen of her when she tried to kill me on Luna. Breathtakingly beautiful, and fierce as a tiger-cat. She wanted to start a family, and be a part of the generation ship. And that ’ s how you, your sister, your mommy and da, and me and Gram ended up here. And we ’ ll be to our destination soon, Jimmy, and you ’ ll feel that sun on your face just like I did that day. And you ’ ll remember, won ’ t you, not to stare into the sun for too long? ” Jimmy was fast asleep, kitten curled up at his feet, a hopeful smile plastered on his face. 

