Chapter 6

An interesting sidelight on the communicator was that you heard the person at the other end of the conversation speaking in the same accent as your own. This meant that conversation through the communicator was often easier to understand than when heard directly.

We were given a general rundown on our target and how Venta's people thought we should be organized. The assignments were for Julia to be our demolition expert and the other six to be warriors, with me in charge. However, we would all be cross-trained in case someone became incapacitated.

Our actual preliminary training would be with something called "computer simulation." We sat in front of displays that were sort of like moving pictures and watched as we progressed through the complex paths we were to follow to reach the main machine which we were to destroy. Our first hour or so was spent getting over the novelty of watching a moving picture show on these little displays. Of course, it was easier for me, since I had been to a movie theater many times, but the others had never seen anything like it. All in all, it was a marvel of technology which it took a while for us to accept.

Once we were comfortable with the training machines, the instruction got serious. Our first test was to be able to follow the intricate route into the complex without lights. With our super memory, we knew how many steps it was to the next turn and where to be wary of a guard station. It only took a couple of passes with the lights on for us to be able to navigate the whole warren in total darkness.

The guards were some sort of metal monsters we were told were called "robots." These guys were supposed to be as smart as people and to have guns that could hurt us, though the shots probably wouldn't be fatal. However, a shot to the head would put us out for at least an hour, which was longer than we had to spare. Our weapons were to be guns which shot explosive bullets, but were recoil compensated so they would be relatively easy to use.

We spent some time on a shooting range where we all had to "qualify" with these new weapons. Jim, Arthur, and I didn't have much trouble learning to use the weapons because we were familiar with guns and had shot them most of our lives, but the others had to work harder. By being recoil compensated, the guns could be fired as pistols, or, with a flip-out stock, fired as shoulder weapons. Aiming was done by putting a red spot on the target and squeezing the trigger; the bullet would hit the red spot. There was a great gizmo on the guns called a "video sight." With this sight, we could aim by looking at the display screen and shooting when the red spot was where we wanted to hit the enemy. This way, we could see around corners without sticking our heads out to get shot at. Our vastly improved reflexes and agility let all eight of us qualify in only a few hours of practice.

We took a break after mastering the weapons and were sent back home to get some rest and a change of scenery. As we were getting ready to leave, Jim remarked to me that, "Julia is a damn fine lookin' woman!" I wondered if Venta's conditioning had anything to do with that opinion. I really didn't care, but I was curious.

I suggested to Jim that he should talk to Julia; they might work something out. After all, Arthur and Justina certainly got along well. I told him that he should speak to her before we left the training area; we did have a spare bedroom that was available if they wanted to use it. The upshot was that Jim and Julia spent the rest of the night in our spare bedroom at the ranch house.

This got me to thinking that we needed to work out some way for Cicero and Augusta to move into the main house. I didn't want them to get the mistaken idea that they were stuck in the bunkhouse because we considered them second-class citizens. I needed to talk to Arthur and Amy about that as soon as possible.

After breakfast, I took Arthur and Amy aside and told them of my concerns about leaving Cicero and Augusta in the bunkhouse. They both thought for a minute and Amy said, "We do have a place fer them! Daddy, remember the storeroom at the end of the hall? They could use that as a bedroom if we cleared out the junk. It has no furniture, but we could easily take care of that by taking what they're using from the bunkhouse. If everybody works on the job, we could have it ready for them to use, tonight."

Arthur and I agreed that was a great idea, so we called everybody together and asked Cicero and Augusta if they would like to move into the main house with the rest of us. They would, so we got to work. The bedroom was ready for occupancy by supper time and they moved in.

We returned to the training complex that night and spent some time in what Venta called a "hologram simulator." This was a monster room which could be configured to be exactly like the place we were to attack. We rehearsed our attack plan over and over, trying to cover all conceivable errors and foul-ups that we could encounter.

The next night, we spent the entire time making sure that we all understood exactly what was required to make the demolition charge do its job. We returned to the ranch and then spent two more nights in training for the attack. We were getting sick of rehearsal and were ready to go.

This last night we had worn the special uniforms we were going to wear during the attack. The uniforms were nearly skin tight and made of a non- reflective black fabric that was supposed to hide our body heat radiation in the infra-red. There were all kinds of hooks and loops and pockets for carrying canteens and extra ammunition and whatever else we might need. Julia had a special backpack for carrying the demolition charge; the backpack was awkward to carry, but Julia could do it if she did not also have to fight.

Our last pass that night through the hologram simulation was particularly tough. The guards found us early on and we had to fight our way all the way in. On the initial encounter, it looked like we would be stopped, but we managed to fight our way through.

The robots had set up a crossfire which had us stopped cold. I sent Cicero and Amy to the right to draw fire while Augusta, Jim, and Arthur tried to sneak around to the left without attracting attention. Once everybody was in position, Amy and Cicero began shooting at the robots as fast as they could pump out the shots. Arthur, Augusta, and Jim used this distraction to sneak to their assigned position.

When they were ready, I had Arthur, Augusta, and Jim fire carefully aimed shots at the robots on their side of the passageway. For a moment, this broke up the crossfire and Justina and I ran as fast as we could down the center of the passageway beyond the section defended by the robots. Once we were safely past the robots, we turned back and opened fire on the robots being attacked by Amy and Cicero.

This tactic appeared to confuse the robots and we were able to finish them off. We all then concentrated our fire on the remaining robots and knocked them out of the fight. Julia was waved through after all the robot defenders were dead and there was no chance of having one of them shoot the demolition charges.

By this time, it was clear that our only real worry was having one of the robots shoot the demolition pack. If that was destroyed, our whole effort was wasted, even if it didn't kill Julia when it went off. Though it would be painful, we were willing to take a personal hit if it meant completing the mission.

Our next serious opponent was a robot sniper. We found him the hard way! We were working our way down a passageway when Cicero let out a pained grunt and fell to the floor. He had been shot in the hip and was incapacitated for a little time. Cicero had been working at point, so we knew that the sniper had to be ahead of us. We couldn't take a chance on him shooting the demolition pack; he had to be eliminated before we could advance any farther.

Justina ran to the other side of the passage, hoping that the changed viewing angle would enable her to catch a glimpse of the sniper. When she was in position, Augusta ran to her in hopes of drawing a shot from the sniper that would give his position away. There was no shooting, so that effort was wasted. When Arthur ran across the passage and did not draw a shot, either, we decided to rethink the situation.

Cicero had been shot just before he reached a crossing of our path with another passageway. Maybe the reason that we had not drawn any fire was because the sniper couldn't see the people running across the open space. That would happen if the sniper was in the crossing passageway. I asked Justina to move to the intersection and use her video aiming device to look around the corner and try to spot the sniper.

She found him! He was on a ledge about 15 feet above the floor. This gave him a perfect view of our path once we got near the crossing. I asked her to try to shoot him from her current position. She lay down on the floor to make a less than obvious target for the sniper and carefully aimed at him with her video aiming device. She thumbed her weapon to full automatic and sprayed him with a burst of 5 rounds. The first three hit; the last two missed because he was already falling off the ledge! I congratulated her on her shooting and we moved to see what we could do to help Cicero.

He had recovered in the 15 minutes it took us to knock out the sniper, so we were ready to continue. Cicero dropped to drag position and Amy moved to point. We had taken the sniper to be a warning, so Amy was even more careful and watchful as she led us along the passageway. The crossing where Cicero had been shot was a turning point in our route. We were very watchful as we turned the corner, even though Justina had used her video system to survey the path before we rounded the corner.