Stone Blade Read Online Free PDF

face. Micah clenched his teeth hard but couldn't stop his rebelling imagination. His stomach twinged once in warning, then bent him over as he vomited. Violently.
    ***
    Micah found morning drill here worse by far. Though the antidote never made him as ill as the first time he still felt it. He never felt his full strength and his stomach always churned. The runs were shorter, at first, but the air was thinner. Breathing too hard tended to outpace the antidote and cause burning throats and excessive thirst. The bellowing sergeants, at least, were something familiar but Hile drilled them as often as not. Then Micah made a discovery. Except for the recruits, all personnel here wore the insigne of the 113th: a stylized spearhead with flames running its length.
    The bright spot in Micah's day came with training. All Commonwealth troops received similar basic equipment: uniform, holovisor, hand terminal and skinsuit; but from there the branches diverged. Few Orbital or SDP troopers, 'crunchies' according to Hile, needed training on  hovertanks. Ground Assault had little use for astrogation or linkspace theory. Over the course of training the 113th covered all of those and more.
    ***
    Though his days were hellish Micah began to enjoy them. Though rougher by far this training was much like school. Micah marveled at the sheer amount of knowledge he crammed into his brain. He didn't let his amazement stop him from articulating it back, though. The only thing that puzzled him: combat training. While the recruits did train with several varieties of hand weapons, it seemed pale against their non-combat lessons. Micah had learned not to question, though. Teague, friendless now as much by choice as by circumstance, still had trouble with that.
    Refreshed from his morning run and calis, Micah lined up with the others outside the mess hall. Medics waited just inside the building. This puzzled Micah. Though he'd had his antidote for the day he held out his arm. The hypo tingled a bit but had no other obvious effects. Talk over the rations concerned the new hypos. Someone near the middle of the table opined, while shoveling in food, that it was a female substitute.
    Another surprise awaited them outside the hall. All the drill sergeants lolled about while one of their number issued goggles and rifles. Hile called them to attention.
    “Now, children, we begin your real training.”
    Ice in Hile's voice? Ridiculous, thought Micah. Imagination! Still... Micah felt a strange quiver of anxiety at the man's words.
    “Some of you are, no doubt, wondering what we gave you with breakfast.”
    Hile's usual cheer now seemed sinister.
    “In brief, children, it is your worst nightmare realized.”
    No doubt now! Micah felt a nibble of fear gnawing down his spine.
    “It is time for you to enter the fear and the flame. By now you will feel it starting, children. A touch of apprehension, perhaps a bit of dread. Within the next few minutes, though, you will know fear stronger than you have ever known it before. We brew it that way especially for you. Your first assignment is to complete the obstacle course.”
    “MOVE!!” shouted one of the others.
    Micah jumped, startled totally out of proportion. As they began moving he examined the weapon. It was a paint: a harmless weapon that sent out a pulse of light and a neural jolt meant to tingle and announce a hit.
    Then Micah wondered. Some of the weapons looked different. Some looked like real blasters. Then he saw the sergeants under arms. They'd not taken theirs from the racks!
    As soon as the obstacle course came into view the sergeants ran ahead. By the time the recruits arrived the others had vanished! Micah looked around nervously. The fear nibbling his spine grew fangs!
    “By the numbers, children,” said Hile, “You may return fire.”
    The first three recruits had just entered the course when the simulated artillery started.
    ***
    Micah scaled the wall as quickly as he could; totally exposed with