"For King and Country"

“Day 365

Exactly one year has passed since the start of the War of Liberation. I decided to start this journal now, since in the beginning I wasn’t as sure of victory as I am today! I will start from the very beginning, my life may not be as colorful as that of our holy leader but I will do my best to make it seem reasonable.

I joined the War Academy in 2210, right after the proclamation of Mars’s independence. After all the hardship the Terran government had to go through to make it hospitable the traitors stole it from us and thought that it would go past the watchful eye of our leader. Although it took me three months of training to even get a chance to participate openly in the War of Liberation the whole period of idleness was finally worth it. When I finally received my assigned rifle and rank I could not believe what honor was bestowed upon me to fight for my planet, my leader, to die for it and kill all the bloody traitors who ever dared spit their poison of lies in our way.

My first assignment was C Company of the XVI Army. A simple troop who followed orders and asked no questions. I was more than glad to finally leave the safety of the star cruiser and finally set my foot on Mars’s soil. We were the Third Wave, the previous two were simply too weak to crush the feeble opposition of the traitors. Not we! We swept them off their damned positions and then slowly took them down. Their bodies burning from our lasers which cut through their armor like knife through butter. It reminded me of fireworks back on Earth, but here we enjoyed something better. Satisfaction watered down with blood thirst and hunger for even more bloodshed.

Yet we could not go forever. We were good enough to land on Mars and conquer city by city yet out officers always wanted us to rest. I do not disrespect our superiors, but why stop a Tsunami if it does even more glory in the name of Earth and our immortal leader? If it were not for them, we would go on, and by the end of our first year of this war control the whole of Mars! Pity that this did not happen.

This was only the first two months after finishing the War Academy. Somebody has noticed my devotion and promoted me to sergeant, thus giving me control over my own squad. I was horrified by their state though. Not physical but psychological. Lazy do-nothings who only waited for the right moment to flee. After three battles where they proved completely unsuccessful and inefficient I was forced to execute them. Even then they pleaded for their miserable lives. How could they do that if the life of each man and woman should be sacrificed only to Earth and our Leader?

I was immediately given a squad of more competent men, who now serve under me, as I was promoted to captain, and they became my lieutenants and sergeants. Each and every one of them proved themselves in battle. Exceptional feats of bravery, loyalty and murderous efficiency. Not many such men are left, since the majority of new recruits are disloyal, dirty dogs who can’t think beyond the simple gap of fleeing the battlefield. Each day I sign documents of executions, at least a company is killed each week from my Army. In a War as important as this, there is no place for weakness. If anybody shows that he is incapable of serving Earth he is not worthy of staying alive.

Still much work awaits us, all those loyal to the cause. I do not see why our leader decides to gift us with bread and wine when the only food we need is conquer and slaughter. We are closer to our target with each day, and if I may say so, soon we will be ready to commence the absolute purification of our population. Why cry for those who cannot afford to work and improve our Planet? They all should be shot, or forced to work. I head on Pluto we have a nice penal colony for such scum. My personal favorite is sending disabled shuttles full of “trash” to the sun. Through very secret connections I have received a recording of the screams just before everybody inside burns. If we could only use alternate methods which would be more efficient I would be happy to even manage such a penal center.

My family, what may I say. I loved my sister, mother and father dearly. Now though, I hate them. I remember when they said that it would be better to move to Mars, the words of heresy carved in their minds. Great thanks for that incident five years ago, where our house blew up. Back then it was said that terrorists from Mars did it. Now I am absolutely sure that they were the terrorists, the explosives simply went of in their hidden cache under the house, killing all of them. I am clean though, I did not participate in that. My next task will be seek out others like that and personally shoot them and dance on their corpses.

Yet first, Mars, then the cleansing and what will follow is our leader’s wish. If I will die I hope somebody will finish the holy quest given to us by our leader. We cannot fail now, when we are so close. For our leader, for our planet, we will never surrender!”

Below the printed document was a short note from the head Historian. I was most intrigued by the diary entry though and read three times more before reading the note. It is incredible how the propaganda on Earth worked. Both impressive and frightful, that any government was capable of brainwashing their citizens to the point where they would turn into complete monsters. I remembered reading about this in the Library of Ancient History. It was either World War I or World War II, I simply couldn’t distinguish them from each other. The note, written in the characteristic style of my professor could not be mistaken.

“Here is the excerpt you wanted. I wish you luck on your project “Is Propaganda a Second War?” and hope to see any further progress on your work any time soon. If you need anything more give me a call.

Professor Merindor”

After hiding the document in the folder with other sources for my University project I called my wife. Suddenly the words from the diary flashed before my eyes. What if the poor wretch in the beginning was just like me. Both kind and caring only to be forced to become somebody completely different? The grim thought was quickly washed away by the voice of my beloved one.
“I will be back late, I still have some work to do.” The face of my wife smiled on the Com-Screen and she sent me a kiss. I did the same and left the connection. After that I grabbed an ancient, barely working tape from my desk and inserted it in the Universal Player. Immediately I recognized the strong repeating tune of the Earth’s anthem. It could steal anybody’s soul and make the dance, jump, and act. Can Propaganda really defeat a person’s personality, belief and will to change them? Or is something different, more sinister?
“I have to find that out.” I whispered to myself and started to look through the papers on my desk.