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Jonny hurled himself from the building in a flat dive, arm swinging around as he targeted the guard. But even as he squeezed off the shot, the door to his si...
And, announcing his failure to the world, the alarm horn hooted from the wall. Feeling like an idiot, Jonny got to his feet and looked around for the way out...
"Let that be a lesson to you," someone said from the building, and Jonny turned to see a man with a Cobra Operations patch on his coveralls standing behind t...
"Thanks, sir," Jonny sighed. "How do I get out?"
"Right over there-you can head back and get cleaned up. And if it helps, a lot of the others did worse."
Swallowing, Jonny nodded and set off in the indicated direction. It wasn't much comfort to know that others would have died sooner. Dead is still dead.
* * *
"So, the great Horizon hope finally crusked one," Viljo said, setting his tray down at the far end of the table and favoring Jonny with an off-cordial smile....
Jonny dropped his eyes to his own lunch and said nothing, concentrating instead on the last few bites of his meal as the blood rushed to his face. Viljo's sn...
Though if he wasn't, possibly others were. Across from Jonny, Halloran hunched over the table to eye Viljo. "I didn't notice you walking away with high honor...
"Sure-but Jonny's the one Bai always holds up like he was the ideal trainee. Haven't you noticed? I just wondered if he liked being demoted to mortal."
Beside Viljo, Singh stirred in his seat. "You're exaggerating rather badly, Rolon; and even if you weren't, it would hardly be Jonny's fault."
"Oh, wouldn't it?" Viljo snorted. "Come on-you know as well as I do how this sort of favoritism works. Jonny's family's probably got some fix in with Bai or ...
And with that, the insults crossed a fine line . . . and Jonny abruptly had had enough.
In a single smooth motion, he stood up and leaped over the table, dimly aware of his chair slamming backwards into the next table as he did so. He landed dir...
Viljo eyed him calmly. "My, my; so you have a temper after all. I suppose 'breaff dropping' is just one of those colorful expressions you use out there in th...
That final smirk was too much. Letting go of Viljo's shirt, Jonny threw a punch at the other's face.
It was a disaster. Not only did Viljo duck successfully out of the way, but with his servos providing unaccustomed speed to his swing, Jonny was thrown compl...
And with that the red haze abruptly vanished from his brain and he found himself standing in a roomful of silent Cobra trainees, his arms gripped solidly by ...
He was still trying to sort it all out when the room's intercom/monitor ordered him to report to Mendro's office.
* * *
The interview was short, but excruciatingly painful, and by the time Jonny left he was feeling like one of the solder targets on the laser range. The thought...
Deutsch and Halloran peeled themselves from the wall where they'd been leaning as Jonny closed the door behind him. "You okay?" Deutsch asked, the concern in...
"Oh, sure," Jonny snorted, unreasonably irked by this unexpected invasion of his private shame. "I just got verbally skinned alive, that's all."
"Well, at least it was all verbal," Halloran pointed out. "Don't forget, all of Mendro's weapons are functional. Hey, lighten up, Jonny. You're still in the ...
"Yeah," Jonny said, the hard lump starting to dissolve a bit. "At least as far as I know. Though Bai will probably have something to say about that when he h...
"Oh, Bai already knows-he's the one who told us to wait here for you," Halloran said. "He said to bring you out to the practice range when you were ready. Ar...
Grimacing, Jonny nodded. "I suppose so. Might as well get it over with."
"What, facing Bai?" Deutsch asked as they set off down the hall. "Don't worry; he understands what that was all about. So do Parr and Druma, for that matter....
"I wish I did," Jonny shook his head. "What has Viljo got against me, anyway?"
Halloran glanced at him, and Jonny caught the other's frown. "You really don't know?"
"I just said that, didn't I? What, he doesn't like anyone who was born more than ten light-years from Earth?"
"He likes them fine . . . as long as they don't show they're better at anything than he is."
Jonny stopped abruptly. "What are you talking about? I never did anything like that."
Halloran sighed. "Maybe not in your books, but a person like Rolon does his accounting differently. Look, remember our very first orientation meeting, the on...
"Well . . . me. But that was only because I was the last to arrive before him."
"Probably," Halloran conceded. "But Rolon didn't know that. And then the first evening of our actual training you tore the stuffing out of all of us in that ...
Jonny shook his head in bewilderment. "But I didn't mean to beat him-"
"Of course you did-everyone 'means' to win in a game," Deutsch said. "You didn't mean to humiliate him, of course, but in a way that actually makes it worse....
"So what am I supposed to do-roll over and play dead for him?"
"No, you're supposed to just continue doing as well as you can and to hell with his ego," Deutsch said grimly. "Maybe maneuvering you into Mendro's kennel wi...
Jonny gave him a quick look. For a brief moment Deutsch's air of calm humor had vanished, showing something much darker beneath it. "You know," Jonny said, s...
"You mean because I laugh and joke around?" Deutsch asked. "Or because I opted to spend a couple of months hanging around Asgard instead of grabbing a laser ...
"Um . . . when you put it that way-"
"I care a lot about Adirondack, Jonny, but I don't see any advantage in tying myself in knots worrying about what the Trofts might be doing to my family and ...
"I think that's a hint we should get back to practice," Halloran said with a smile.
"Can't fool a psychologically trained mind," Deutsch replied wryly; and with that the momentary glimpse into his deeper self was over. But it was enough, and...
The kind of men he'd been deemed worthy to join.
And it put the whole thing with Viljo into a final perspective. To risk washing out of the Cobras over what were essentially emotional fly bites would be the...
They'd reached an exit now, and Halloran led them outside. "Wait a second-we're on the wrong side of the building," Jonny said, stopping and looking around. ...