“Okay.”
“Here you can see where I’ve added a layer with an inlay,” Nikola said as she displayed a three-centimeter square of polysteel with jeweled inlays. The inlays were made of small pieces of turquoise embedded in the polyglass. They were arranged in a mostly symmetrical pattern with thin strips of silver separating the pale blue turquoise rectangles.
“That’s beautiful,” Catie said.
“Thank you. Now I know you’re not much of a jewelry person, but most women hate to show up somewhere to find someone else wearing the exact same piece of jewelry, so I suggest you do these in limited quantities. We have lots of gems to choose from, ruby, jade, lapis, opals, even seashells,” Nikola said.
“Wow, this is complicated.”
“Just hire a jewelry designer; they’ll have a ball,” Nikola said. “I’ve also made this.”
Nikola brought out a piece of material that was about the same size as the mini-Comm. Then she brought out a model of a mini-Comm that had a small depression in its face. She slipped the material into the depression and it snapped into place.
“It’s held in place by an electrostatic charge. You have to use a little suction cup to remove it,” Nikola said. “But you can make these in any color or combination of colors you want. Then your customers can change the inlay to match their outfit.”
“That’s cool.”
“That’s a big thing with women; even some men will want to change things around. And these are inexpensive to make,” Nicola added. “I wish you were here, then you could feel them. They have a nice cool feel, I tested them on an actual Comm, and they go from cool to warm depending on how much you use your Comm. Or you can set the Comm to hold them at a specific temperature.”
“Okay, so can you work with Marcie to hire a jeweler? And I guess we should start making and selling them.”
“Not a problem. Marcie and I were just waiting for your okay.”
“Great, then go ahead.”
“Wonderful. Oh, by the way, Leo figured out your iris. He needs you to approve a prototype with Ajda.”
“Wow, that was fast. I’m talking to Ajda next. I’ll have her contact him.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Catie managed a virtual walkthrough of the StarMerchant with Ajda. There were lots of small details that she hadn’t thought of, but would make running the ship simpler. She was glad that Ajda was taking care of everything, but thought it kind of sucked that she couldn’t be more involved.
Chapter 9Guatemala
“Welcome to Guatemala,” a Marine sergeant major yelled. “I hear you’ve been having a nice vacation back at the Academy. Well, that’s over, your asses belong to me now!”
“Oh gawd, if he thinks we were on vacation, what does he think hard training is!” Catie wondered.
“Form up!” the sergeant major yelled. He bent down and grabbed a handful of mud. “I want to introduce you to your new best friend. We call it el cieno down here!” He walked over to Cadet Lieutenant Hoffman and smeared some of it on his face; then, he walked down the ranks smearing it on the faces of each cadet in the first row.
“You will learn to crawl in it, dig in it, wear it, throw it, love it!” the sergeant major yelled. “Now everyone, bend down, get a big handful of it and cover your face, then I want you to start marching. . . . Left face! March! Double time! March!”
Foxtrot Squadron started running in step. The sergeant major ran backward as he moved up and down their line, yelling at them to pick up the pace.
“I heard Foxtrot was a badass squadron, did I hear wrong?!”
“No! Sergeant Major!”
“Then show me what you got. Pick up the pace!”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Just what we needed, a nice ten-K to warm up,” Joanie moaned when they finally were allowed to check into the barracks.
“Don’t forget all those lovely push-ups,” Catie said.
“Oh, how could I forget those. Right down in the mud,” Joanie replied. “And that mud stinks.”
“Get your shower, or I’m going first, and you can wait,” Catie said.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Get down in that mud!” the sergeant major yelled at Catie.
She pushed herself deeper into the mud as she shimmied along under the barbwire. She didn’t have to worry too much about the wire scratching her, her shipsuit was virtually impervious to it, but the sadists here in Guatemala had realized that so the wire was electrified. With the wet mud as a ground, even getting close to the wire was enough to give you a real jolt.
“Keep moving! What are you doing, taking a nap!”
“Oh Lord, please let me meet the sergeant major in the microgravity obstacle course one day,” Catie silently prayed as she pushed harder into the mud with her boots, scooting through the ooze faster.
Finally, reaching the end of the barbwire, Catie jumped up and started running toward the wall. She leapt up and grabbed the rope about three meters up, and continued to go up hand over hand to the top of the wall.
“MacGregor, we are not kangaroos, go back down and climb up again!” one of the instructors yelled at her.
“Give me a break!” Catie hissed under her breath as she slid down the rope to start the climb over.
“Move it! There are others coming!”
Over the wall, through the tires, across the rail, over the teeter-totter, Catie ran. Finally, she reached the end of the course, where she literally took a shower with her shipsuit on.
“I hate mud!” she hissed.
“You’re telling me!” Cadet Walters said. “Do you think they just pump this stuff back out there?” He pointed back toward the slime channel they’d had to crawl through.
“Probably.”
“Just shoot me!” Joanie cried as she made it to the showers.
“We can’t, but ask again next week when we’re on the rifle range,” Catie said.
“I just might!”
◆ ◆ ◆
“I sure hope next week is better,” Joanie said when she and Catie made it
