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"Oh, I guess so," Singh agreed. "But only for a little while."
"You'll be able to leave whenever you want to," Halloran assured him. "Once we're in town everyone's on his own timetable. Well. Out the window?"
"Out and up," Viljo nodded. "Lights out . . . here goes."
It proved far easier to leave the complex grounds than Jonny had expected. From the roof of their wing they dropped to a darkened drill field used by the reg...
Even with having to slow down once they hit populated areas, the trip took only half an hour . . . and Jonny got his first taste of what a real city could be...
Afterwards, he wouldn't remember much about that first plunge into mainstream Dominion recreational life. Deutsch took the lead, guiding them on a giddy and ...
He'd been lying in his bunk for perhaps half an hour, trying to will his overactive mind to sleep, when a noise at the window made him open his eyes. "Who's ...
"Viljo," the other murmured tightly. "You alone?"
"Yes," Jonny said, swinging his legs out of bed. Something in Viljo's voice was distinctly off-key. "What's wrong?"
"I thought Mendro and the MPs might be here by now," Viljo said distractedly, flopping onto his back on his own bunk. "I'm not sure, but I think I'm in troub...
"What?" Jonny bumped his vision enhancers up a notch. In the amplified background light Viljo's expression was tight, but he didn't seem hurt. "What kind of ...
"Oh, I had a little argument with some phrijeater behind one of the bars. Had to bounce him around a bit." Abruptly, Viljo levered himself off the bunk and h...
"Will he recognize you again? I mean-"
"I don't think he was blind or illiterate, no."
"I meant was it light enough to read your name off your fatigues?"
"Yeah, it was light enough . . . if he had time to pay attention. Go to bed, will you?"
Heart pounding, Jonny crawled back under his blanket. Bounced him around a bit. What did that mean? Had Viljo hurt the other-perhaps even badly? He opened hi...
"Get undressed and go to bed-what did you think?"
"No, I mean about . . . reporting it."
The sound of running water stopped and Viljo reemerged. "I'm sure as hell not telling anyone else about this. You think I'm crazy?"
"But the guy could be badly hurt-"
"He got away under his own power. Besides, he's hardly the sort of phrijeater worth risking your career over. That goes for your career, too."
"I-what?"
"You know what. You go blabbing about this to Mendro and you'll have to admit you were out of Freyr tonight, too." He paused, studying Jonny's face. "Besides...
"Trivial? What was he armed with, a laser cannon? You could've gotten away without fighting. Why'd you stick around?"
"You wouldn't understand." Viljo climbed into his bunk. "Look, I didn't really hurt him; and if I overreacted, it's too late to change things now. So let's j...
"But what if he does? If you don't report it first, it'll look like you're trying to cover it up."
"Yeah, well, I'll play the odds-and since it's my risk, you're invited to stay out of it."
Jonny didn't answer. Silence again returned to the room, and after a few minutes Viljo's breathing slipped into the slow, steady pattern of sleep. The mark o...
What was the proper thing to do here? If he kept quiet he was technically an accessory after the fact, and if the civilian's injuries turned out to be severe...
They made a good try at doing just that, keeping him uselessly awake for the next hour and a half. One by one his other four roommates came in the open windo...
Somehow, he managed to dress, grab his prepacked combat bag, and head down to the mess hall with the others without his groggy eyes drawing any special comme...
They reached the hundred-thousand-hectare test site an hour later, and after giving them new computer modules, extra equipment, and final instructions, Bai t...
It was therefore something of a surprise when, returning to field HQ from his first successful exercise, he found an MP transport waiting. It was even more o...
* * *
The young man fidgeting in his chair next to Mendro's desk certainly looked like he'd been in a fight. Heal-quick bandages covered one cheek and his jaw, and...
Mendro's expression was merely determined. "Is this the man?" he asked the other as Jonny sat down in the chair his MP guard indicated.
The civilian's eyes flicked once over Jonny's face, then settled onto his fatigue tunic. "It was too dark to see his face well enough, Commander," he said. "...
"I see." Mendro's eyes bored into Jonny's. "Moreau, Mr. P'alit here claims you attacked him last night behind the Thasser Eya Bar in Farnesee. True or false?...
"False," Jonny managed through dry lips. Through the haze of unreality filling the room a nasty suspicion was beginning to take shape.
"Were you in Farnesee last night?" Mendro persisted.
"Yes, sir, I was. I . . . sneaked out to try and relax before the final exam started today. I was only there for a couple of hours-" he glanced at P'alit-"an...
"He's lying," P'alit spoke up. "He was-"
Mendro's gesture silenced him. "Did you go alone?"
Jonny hesitated. "No, sir. All of us in my room went. We split up in town, though, so I don't have any alibi. But . . ."
"But what?"
Jonny took a deep breath. "About a half hour after I got back one of the others came in and told me he'd-well, he said he'd bounced someone around a little b...
Mendro's eyes were hard, unbelieving. "And you didn't report it?"
"He indicated it was a minor argument. Certainly nothing so . . . serious." He looked again at P'alit; only then did the sophistication of the frame-up sink ...
"Uh-huh. Who was it who told you all this?"