Earth Mars Love (The Marsikons)

Chapter 13

She asked looking at him expectantly. "Where did you learn Mandarin?"

"Marsikons have several basic languages, and Mandarin is one of them. Every Marsikon can choose which language they want to learn more deeply, but in the end, almost everyone knows every language at least on a basic level. It isn't mandatory to learn it at school; it's just a choice that every person makes. It's respect to each nation. After we went underground, we were left so few, that we needed unity, and by learning all languages we managed to stay united through the hard times."

"And what about your ID?" Regina scowled at him.

"Oh, good memory you have," he chuckled leaning down to her while they were trying to go through the crowd. "In documents we still use Sanskrit."

"Hmm..." she hummed thoughtfully. Her brain was slowly working, and she was half asleep, but despite it, something caught her eye.

Marcus was telling her something else when they were coming closer to the end of the aisle, but she tuned him out focusing her gaze on the boy who was moving suspiciously at the last tent. He was looking at the stand with fruits, and when the vendor asked him something, he just shook his head and turned around. But when another customer came closer, the boy swiftly turned back, grabbed something, and jolted running outside of the market.

Little thief, I'll show you how to steal!

All her instincts came awake, and sleepiness was gone in an instant. She went right after him shouting, "Stop right now, fruitlifter!"

Faintly she heard Marcus shouting at her to stop but she couldn't. She needed to catch him and return the fruit.

One second, Regina was running, her legs eating the ground and getting her closer to the fast boy, and the next she went airborne. Somebody tackled her from behind and turned her around so swiftly that her stomach even flipped a bit. Marcus turned her to him still gripping her shoulders. She tried to break free, but his hold was steel.

"What the hell! He stole a fruit, and I need to catch him," she shouted in his face breathing heavily.

"Regina, stop!" he shook her a bit; his breath wasn't even either. "Did you not see how thin he was. He's probably starving, and this fruit is maybe the only nourishment he had in three days."

"And what? It doesn't mean that he can just go and steal what he wants whenever he wants. If he won't get caught, the next time he'll steal something bigger and will go to jail. I need to teach him a lesson," she growled, stomping her foot.

Marcus looked frustrated, still gripping her, he leaned closer in her face, "The problem is not in him stealing something, the problem is that he doesn't have money for food. Or his parents don't have money to feed him. You're so smart but could be such a fool sometimes. This is the problem that I've told you about. You have a lot of poor people with no job. And they can't get a job, because they don't have a proper education. But to get this education, you need money. It's a vicious circle and the greatest problem of big countries. Give them a job, give them a salary, and they won't steal."

"Oh, you think that rich people don't steal?" she laughed bitterly in his face.

"It's the second biggest problem –greed. These people need to learn how to share. But it's not what we're talking about right now."

"It's not so simple what you're telling about the job."

"Yes, it is. On Mars, we don't have poor people, because no one claims ownership of a particular resource. What we focus on is a contribution for the well-being of our community. They're doing their job, and even if it's something minimal, they know that they do it for the good of everyone. If you want to do something good, pay that vendor for the thief."