Cobra Alliance

his opponents were doing. We could very well lose someone out there.'

'Or several someones,' Halloran agreed. He was standing at the window, staring out. Past his shoulder Jonny could see a sprinkling of lights from other parts of Freyr Complex and, further away, the lights from Farnesee, the nearest civilian town. Somehow, it reminded him of his home and family, a thought that added to his gloom.

'They wouldn't make it dangerous enough to actually kill us, would they?' Noffke asked, though his tight expression indicated he already knew the answer.

'Why not?' Halloran retorted. 'Sure, they've spent a lot on us—but there's no sense letting marginal ones go on to get killed the minute they land on Adirondack. Why do you think they put off implanting our computers until after the test?'

'To save some money where possible,' Jonny grunted. 'Parr, stop shuffling those cards—either deal them or put them away.'

'You know what we need?' Viljo spoke up abruptly. 'A night out of this place. A few drinks, some music, a little conversation with real people—especially of the female sort—'

'And how exactly do you expect to persuade Mendro to let us out for this little sortie?' Deutsch snorted.

'Actually, I wasn't planning to ask him,' Viljo said calmly.

'I think that qualifies as going A.W.O.L.,' Halloran pointed out. 'There are lots of easier ways to get ourselves crusked.'

'Nonsense. Bai said we were off-duty, didn't he? Anyway, has anyone ever explicitly told us we were confined to Freyr Complex?'

There was a short silence. 'Well, no, now that you mention it,' Halloran admitted. 'But—'

'But nothing. We can sneak out of here easily enough—this place isn't even guarded as well as a regular military base would be. Come on—none of us is going to sleep well tonight anyway. We might as well have some fun.'

Because tomorrow we might die. No one said those words aloud, but from the shifting of feet it was clear everyone was thinking variations of them... and after another brief silence Halloran got to his feet. 'Sure. Why not?'

'I'm in,' Noffke nodded quickly. 'I hear there's good card games to be had in the pleasure centers in town.'

'Along with lots of other stuff,' Deutsch nodded. 'Druma; Jonny? How about it?'

Jonny hesitated, his brother's words about decadence and holding onto his ethics flashing through his mind. Still, Viljo was right: nowhere in their verbal or written orders had there been anything about not leaving the complex.

'Come on, Jonny,' Viljo said, using his first name for the first time in days. 'If you can't justify it as relaxation, think of it as practice infiltrating an enemy-occupied city.'

'All right,' Jonny said. After all, he wouldn't have to do anything in town he didn't feel right about. 'Just let me change into my other fatigues—'

'Phrij on that,' Viljo interrupted. 'Those look fine. Quit stalling and let's go. Druma?'

'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 regular Army recruits in Freyr; crossing it, they arrived at an easily- negotiated perimeter wall. Avoiding the simple photobeam alarms at the top, they went over. 'That's it,' Deutsch said cheerfully. 'Nothing but ten klicks of field and suburb between us and fun. Race you!'

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 tortuous path among the shows, night spots, restaurants, and pleasure centers that he'd become familiar with in the weeks between his arrival from an Iberiand university and his final enlistment in the Cobras. More people than Jonny had ever seen at once in his life seemed to be crowded into the district—civilians in oddly cut, luminescent clothing; other civilians whose focus of ornamentation was wild facial makeup, and military personnel of every branch and rank. It was too festive an atmosphere for Jonny to feel uneasy, but by the same token it was too outlandish for him to truly relax and enjoy, either. It made for a lousy compromise, and within a couple of hours he had had enough. Excusing himself from Deutsch and Singh—all that were still together of the original six—he worked his way back through the crowds to the soothing darkness surrounding the town. Getting back into the complex was no harder than sneaking out had been, and soon he was sliding back through the window into their dark and deserted room. Leaving the lights off, he quickly prepared for bed.

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 there?' he stage-whispered as the figure eased into the room.

'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 MP's 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 trouble.'

'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 trouble?'

'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 headed for the bathroom. 'Go back to bed,' he told Jonny over his shoulder. 'If the guy makes trouble we'd both better be innocently asleep when the investigations start.'