Page 6 (1/2)

They had different bunks

"This can’t be right," Tom blurted

"It happens"

Tom stood there, rooted in place Vik had been his rooonal Spire He was the first trainee Tom met after his neural processor was installed It had never occurred to hiet split up

"I’m just down the corridor, Toh it sounded strange to his ears "Whatever You know See you" He started off again, but the change threw hie

He was al shriek resounded down the corridor Tolad for the excuse to sprint back toward hi out of it "Tom," he breathed, "it’s an abomination"

Confused, Toawked, too

Instead of a standard trainee bunk of two small beds with drawers underneath them and totally bare walls, Vik’s bunk was virtually covered with ies of their friend Wyatt Enslow There were posters all over the ith Wyatt’s solemn, oval face on the their every iantVik with a boot on top of its head The Vik statue clutched two very, very tiny hands together in a gesture of supplication, its eyes trained upward on the unseen stomper, an inscription at its base, WHY, OH WHY, DID I CROSS WYATT ENSLOW?

Toh

"She didn’t do it to the bunk," Vik insisted "Sheto our processors"

That , it was pulling off tricks with the neural processors, which could prettyThis was so them see, and Tom heartily approved

He stepped closer to the walls to admire some of the photos pinned there, freeze-fra ot a computer virus that convinced him he was a sheep, and he’d crawled around on his hands and knees chewing on plants in the arboretuaer at the statue and its abnor small, delicate hands ever since Tom had informed her it was the proper way to counter one of Vik’s nicknames for her, "Man Hands" Vik had mostly abandoned that nickname for "Evil Wench," and Toibe

Just then, Vik’s new roouy with curly black hair and a pointy look to his face Tom had seen him around, and he called up his profile from memory:

NAME: Giuseppe Nichols

RANK: USIF, Grade IV Middle, Alexander Division

ORIGIN: New York, NY

ACHIEVEMENTS: Runner-up, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

IP: 2053:db7:lj71::291:ll3:6e8

SECURITY STATUS: Top Secret LANDLOCK-4