Cobra Alliance

He had finished his meal and returned the tray to its place by the door, and was considering lying down again, when the guard returned. 'The captain wasn't available,' his disembodied voice came as the tray disappeared and a small comboard showed up in its place. 'But since you're a Dominion official and all, I guess it'll be all right.' His face reappeared at the window, and he watched as Jonny brought the instrument back to his cot.

'I really appreciate it,' Jonny told him. 'The directory's on the magcard here?'

'Yes—it covers Cranach, Dannimor, and the ten or so smaller towns around.' He paused. 'You Cobras were pretty effective, from all I've read about you.'

Something in his tone caught Jonny's attention. 'We did all right. Of course, we couldn't have done it without the civilian underground.'

'Or vice versa. We're not going to have Cobras for the next war—did you know that?'

Jonny grimaced. 'I didn't, but I guess I'm not surprised. The Army just going to set up normal guerrilla teams if war breaks out?'

'When, not if,' the other corrected. 'Yeah, we've got a whole bunch of Ranger and Alpha Force groups here now, some of them setting up civilian resistance networks.'

Jonny nodded as he finally placed the guard's tone. 'Scary, isn't it? War always is... but this one doesn't have to happen.'

'Yes, I heard the Interrorum guys talking about that. They said a Cobra would blow up if he'd been hypno- conditioned.'

'No, they took those self-destruct triggers out right after the war. But I wasn't hypno-conditioned; by the Trofts or anyone else.'

'That Committee man, Wrey, seems to think so.'

Jonny smiled bitterly. 'Wrey's a short-sighted idiot who's nursing a bruised pride. I had to practically force him to bring me from Aventine in the first place, and then I saved his spangles for him when the Trofts captured the Menssana. This is his way of putting me in my place.'

'But would you necessarily know if your mind had been tampered with?'

'I would, yes. That kind of thing requires that the subject be put into an unconscious or semiconscious state, and I've got internal sensors that would warn me of any chemical, optical, or sonic attempts to do that.'

The guard nodded slowly. 'Does Wrey know that?'

'I wasn't given the chance to tell him.'

'I see. Well... I'd better get back to my duties. I'll be back later for the comboard.'

'Thanks again,' Jonny said; but the other had gone. Now what, he wondered uneasily, was that all about? Information? Reassurance? Or was someone pulling his strings, trying to see how much I'd say? Maybe Wrey had decided to hang around a few more hours hoping to be spared the trouble of shipping Jonny to Asgard. If so, Jonny knew, it would be a long wait. Balancing the comboard on his knees, he started his search.

Weissmann, Dane, Nunki; the names of a dozen temporary families and twice that many temporary teammates; the names and faces of Cobras living and dead—all of them tumbled out together with an ease that belied the twenty-six-year gap. For nearly half an hour he bounced back and forth through the directory as fast as his stiffening fingers would allow; for an hour after that he went more slowly as the flood of names became a trickle and finally ceased entirely.

And none of them were listed.

He stared at the comboard, mind unwilling to accept the evidence of his eyes. Adirondack was still classified as a frontier world, yes, with new areas constantly being developed—but even in twenty-six years how could everyone he'd known here have moved somewhere else?

He was still trying to make sense of it all when a movement outside his cell made him look up. The click of multiple bolts being withdrawn gave him just enough time to slide the comboard under his pillow before the cell door opened to reveal a young woman. 'Governor Moreau?' she asked.

'Yes,' Jonny nodded. 'I hope you're someone in authority here.'

Something crossed her face, too quickly to identify. 'Not hardly. Thank you,' she said, turning to the guard hovering at her shoulder—a different one, Jonny noted, than the one he'd talked with earlier. 'I'll call when I'm done.'

'All right, Doctor.' The door swung shut behind her.

'Well, Governor, your medicine's been cleared,' she said briskly, reaching into a pouch on her belt and producing the two vials that had been taken from him earlier. 'I imagine you'd like to get some into your system before the examination.'

Jonny frowned. 'Examination?'

'Just routine. Take your pills, please.'

He complied, and she sat down beside him on the cot. 'I'll be taking some local/gradient readings,' she said, producing a small cylinder from her pouch. 'Just hold still and don't talk.'

She flipped the instrument on and an oddly pervasive humming filled the room. 'You've changed a lot,' she said, just barely over the noise. 'I wasn't sure it was you until I heard you speak.'

'What?'

'Talk without moving your lips, please.' She moved the instrument slowly across his chest, eyes on the readout.