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Testo

Dataset card Data Studio Files
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"I know. Don't worry; I'm not going to do anything stupid." Deutsch paused for an instant, listening. "You'd better get moving."
"Right. I'll do what I can to draw them away."
"Now don't you take chances." Deutsch slapped Halloran's arm and jumped, catching the edge of the warehouse roof and disappearing over the top.
Clicking all audio and visual enhancers to full power, Halloran turned and began to run, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. The time to mourn was st...
* * *
The first sensation that emerged as the black fog faded was a strange burning in his cheeks. Gradually, the feeling strengthened and was joined by the awaren...
Only then did Jonny's mind come awake enough to notice that he was still alive.
Cautiously, he opened his eyes. A meter above him was a featureless white-steel ceiling; tracing along it, he found it ended in four white-steel walls no mor...
As a death cell, it seemed fairly cheerful. As a surgery prep room, it was woefully deficient.
Raising his head, he studied the plates pinning his arms and legs to the table. Not shackles, he decided; more likely a complex set of biomedical sensors wit...
He was aware, down deep, that not all the fog had yet cleared away; but even so it seemed an incredibly stupid move on their part.
His first impulse was to free himself from the table in a single servo-powered lunge, turn his antiarmor laser on the door hinges, and get the hell out of th...
What did the Trofts think they were doing, anyway?
Whatever it was, it was most likely in violation of orders. The underground had intercepted a set of general orders some months ago, one of which was that an...
So what could anyone want with a living, fully conscious Cobra?
Interrogation was out. Physical torture above a certain level would trigger a power supply self-destruct; so would the use of certain drugs. Hold him for ran...
A path of destruction. A path of Cobra destruction. . . .
Heart beating faster, Jonny turned his attention back to the walls and ceiling. This time, because he was looking for them, he spotted the places where camer...
Carefully, he laid his head back on the table, feeling cold all over. So that's what this was all about-an attempt to get lab-quality information on Cobra eq...
For a long moment temptation tugged at him. If he could escape, surely it would be worth letting the Trofts have their data. Most of what they would get must...
But the whole debate was ultimately nothing more than a mental exercise . . . because Jonny knew full well the proposed trade-off was illusory. Somewhere alo...
There's no such thing as a foolproof deathtrap. Cee-three Bai had emphasized that point back on Asgard, hammered at it until Jonny had come to believe it. Bu...
His duty was therefore unfortunately clear. Closing his eyes, he focused his attention on the neural alarm that would signal an attempt to put him back to sl...
And hope. Irrational though that might be.
* * *
They sat and listened, and when Deutsch finished he could tell they were unconvinced.
Ama Nunki put it into words first. "Too big a risk," she said with a slow shake of her head, "for so small a chance of success."
There was a general shifting in chairs by the other underground and Cobra leaders, but no immediate votes of agreement. That meant there was still a chance. ...
"But he's got to be found first," Jakob Dane explained patiently. "Your estimate of where the aircraft landed notwithstanding, the assumption that figurative...
"Why?" Deutsch countered. "Any place the Trofts would be likely to stash him would have to be reasonably big, reasonably attack-resistant, and reasonably uno...
"And what if we do find the place?" Kennet MacDonald, a Cobra from Cranach's East Sector, spoke up. "Throw all our forces against it in a raid that could eas...
"In fact, that could very well be what they want us to do," Ama said.
"If they wanted to set up a giant deathtrap, they would've left him right there in the Wolker Plant, where we wouldn't have had to work to track him down," D...
"I have to agree with Kennet," Pazar Oberton, an underground leader from MacDonald's sector, said. "We've never asked you to rescue one of our people, and I ...
"This isn't a corporation ledger we're running here-it's a war," Deutsch snapped. "And in case you've forgotten, we Cobras are the best chance you've got of ...
"Off our planet?" Dane murmured. "Have you officially emigrated, then?"
Dane would never know how close he came to dying in that instant. Deutsch's teeth clamped tightly together as endless months of heartbreak and frustration th...
Slowly, the haze cleared, and he saw the fists clenched before him on the table. "Borg?" he said, looking at Weissmann. "You lead this rabble. What do you sa...
An uncomfortable rustle went around the table, but Weissmann's gaze held Deutsch's steadily. "I know you feel especially responsible since you were the one w...
"Warfare is a history of poor odds," Deutsch countered. He sent his gaze around the room. "I don't have to ask your permission, you know. I could order you t...
Halloran stirred. "Imel, we technically have no authority to-"
"I'm not talking technicalities," Deutsch interrupted, his voice quiet but with an edge to it. "I'm talking the realities of power."
For a long moment the room was deathly still. "Are you threatening us?" Weissmann asked at last.
Deutsch opened his mouth, the words damn right I am on his lips . . . but before he could speak, a long-forgotten scene floated up from his memory. Rolon Vil...
The room was still silent as he crossed to the door and left. Briefly, as he started down the stairs, he wondered what they would make of his outburst. But i...
Stepping outside into the night, senses alert for Troft patrols, he headed south.
* * *
"I do believe," Jakob Dane said as the sound of Deutsch's footsteps faded away, "that Adirondack's Self-Appointed Conscience is overdue for some leave time."...
"Shut up, Jakob," Halloran advised, making sure to put some steel in his voice. He'd long ago recognized that each of the underground members had to deal wit...
"Including the efficacy of a rescue mission?" Dane snorted.