Stone Blade Read Online Free PDF Page A

settling hover roused Micah from a troubled sleep. He didn't remember his dreams, only the gut-wrenching terror of them.
    “File out by twos,” said the driver, “and wait for the lock to cycle fully.” Then he smiled.
    The lock cycled and Micah and Laslo stepped out.
    “TEN-HUT LEFT HACE!”
    Micah snapped to attention and turned. A ham of a fist crashed into his chest and he stumbled and fell. Breath became a precious thing.
    “ON YOUR FEET, SLUG! YOU BELONG TO THE COMMONWEALTH NOW, MAY LIBERTY REIGN!”
    “May liberty reign...” gasped Micah automatically. He struggled to his feet, barely registering the profanity being heaped upon himself and the others.
    Micah saw the familiar line and scrambled to it. Then he noticed something worse: all of the recruits stood outside with no respirators. Perhaps his imagination, Micah felt a burning in his lungs. Behind him Micah heard the commands again and a pair of meaty thumps. And again, and again. No doubt now, his eyes burned and his nose started itching. Someone sneezed and rubbed, calling down the wrath of a sergeant upon himself. Finally, thankfully, the lines were complete. The recruits marched past a simple gate and onto a drill field. Micah wanted to cry; the sign above the gate read 'Hell's Sewer.'
    Inside the gate the recruits faced a single sergeant flanked by two medics.
    “Well, children, welcome to Hell.” The man spoke cheerfully and smiled all the while, slowly walking down the line. “No doubt you have all heard stories of this place.”
    At a gesture the medics began drawing and administering hypos.
    “Let me hasten to assure you, children, the worst you have heard is nothing close to your best day here. My name is Sergeant Hile and I think we will all be fabulous friends.”
    Hile stopped walking, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
    “Ahhh... Smell that FINE air, children. And make no mistake, it will KILL you, deader than dirt. It is neither as fast as a blaster nor as painless.”
    Micah heard the hiss of the hypos as the medics worked down the line.
    “Ironically,” continued Hile, “your lungs will last the longest. Your eyes will probably go first. The chemicals here, you see, react with bodily fluids most unpleasantly. Some will dissolve your flesh. Once in the bloodstream, others will lodge in your liver and kidneys. If you are lucky they will build up as inert deposits. If you are not: caustic compounds.”
    From the edge of his vision Micah saw the medic on the front line administer his hypo. The recruit swayed, bent double and began retching loudly and violently. Hile looked kindly toward him.
    “Spew it out, son. Get those evil toxins out of your body. You'll feel better for it.”
    Micah tensed as the medic pressed the hypo to his neck. It hissed and a cold wave washed through Micah. His stomach quivered once but held its peace. Before long Micah's lungs stopped burning and his copiously-tearing eyes began to feel better.
    “The antidote you are receiving,” continued Hile, “will keep your body flushed of toxins. Your daily dose is good for a day, perhaps two. But don't go longer than that, children, or the air will start killing you all over again.
    “Your daily schedules are simple, children. In the morning you will train and you will drill. In the afternoon you will train and you will drill. In the evening you will train and you will drill. At night you may be allowed to sleep, or you may train and drill.”
    The medics finished and walked away.
    “You will excel, children,” said Hile, “You will come to know the fear and the flame that is the 113th. You will expand yourselves in ways you are sheerly incapable of knowing now. You WILL face and conquer challenges your brains would reject as absurdity, now. Finally, children, you WILL grow into proud soldiers of the 113th! Otherwise... Well, we do not waste antidote on losers.”
    Micah felt a chill as Hile's words - and their implication - clashed with the smile on his