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“I’m fast,” Kelly said. “Real fast.”
“Trainees, get ready,” Mendez shouted.
“Okay,” John said. “You sprint ahead and hold it for us.”
“Go!”
Kelly shot forward. John had never seen anyone move like her. She ran like the wolves he had seentoday; her feet seemed barely to touch the ground.
She got to the basket. John and Sam were only halfway there.
One boy beat them to the basket. “Get out,” he ordered Kelly. “I’m going up.”
Sam and John ran up and pushed him back. “Wait your turn,” Sam said.
John and Sam joined Kelly in the basket. Together they pulled on the rope and raised themselves up.There was a lot of rope—for every three meters they pulled, they only rose one meter. A breeze madethe basket sway and bounce into the pole.
“Faster,” John urged.
They pulled as one person, six hands working in unison, and accelerated into the sky.
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They didn’t get there first. They were third. Each of them got to ring the bell, though—Kelly, Sam, andJohn.
They slid down the pole. Kelly and Sam waited for John to land, and then together they ran across thefinish line.
Chief Petty Officer Mendez watched them. He didn’t say anything, but John thought he saw a smileflicker across his face.
Sam clapped John and Kelly on their backs. “That was good work,” Sam said. He looked thoughtful fora moment, then said, “We can be friends . . . I mean, if you want. It’d be no big deal.”
Kelly shrugged and replied, “Sure.”
“Okay,” John said. “Friends.”
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CHAPTER FIVE
0630 Hours, July 12, 2519 (Military Calendar) /Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Military Wilderness Training Preserve, planet Reach
John held on tight as the dropship accelerated up and over a jagged snowcapped mountain range. Thesun peeked over the horizon and washed the white snow with pinks and oranges. The other members ofhis unit pressed their faces to the windows and watched.
Sam sat next to him and looked outside. “Nice place for a snowball fight.”
“You’ll lose,” Kelly said. She leaned over John’s shoulder to get a better look at the terrain. “I’m a deadaim with snowballs.” She scratched the stubble of her shorn hair.
“Dead is right,” John muttered. “Especially when you load them with rocks.”
CPO Mendez stepped from the cockpit into the passenger compartment. The trainees stood and snappedto attention. “At ease, and sit down.” The silver at Mendez’s temples had grown to a band across theside of his closely shaved hair, but if anything he had gotten stronger and tougher since John had firstlaid eyes on him two years ago.
“Today’s mission will be simple for a change.” Mendez’s voice easily penetrated the roar of thedropship’s engines. He handed a stack of papers to Kelly. “Pass these out, Recruit.”
“Sir!” She saluted smartly and handed one paper to each of the seventy-five children in the squad.
“These are portions of maps of the local region. You will be set down by yourselves. You will thennavigate to a marked extraction point and we will pick you up there.”