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Blackburn inserted his legs into the wide, leg-shaped frames of an exosuit, then shoved his arms into the exosuit arers contracted with his, and theso the ned with his elbows and shoulders Then Blackburn reached back and pulled up theon the end of the neck into the access port of his own neck Immediately, the rest of the exosuitto fit around his body, the joints of the exoskeleton lining up with his joints Soon, Blackburn earing what reseht now I have forty-two tith" Blackburn held his ar the way the thin les with infrared and night vision; so capability to rendervest to clot up and heal any wounds I receive; soulate my body temperature; a few mechanized drones to be my scouts; some overhead satellites to be my eyes and ears; a couple rocket launchers for my arms; a distant carrier ready to launch cruise ive me all that, and I become a supersoldier, the decision maker at the center of a vast nexus of automated weapons and armaments Theoretically, one supersoldier could travel back in time and obliterate the entire Third Reich This is the future of warfare Now"--his gray eyes roved over the to reaze snapped over to Vik "Ashwan Guess"

Vik blinked "Is this the your-tiain?"

"That was rule one, Ashwan This is rule nurabbed Vik in one swift ive a startled yelp Then, to Toood twentybody sailed toward the ceiling and pluently back on his feet

"Care to guess now, Ashwan? What is the next rule we are going to discuss?"

"The s-strength" Vik raised his wide eyes up toward the ceiling

"Thatta boy, Ashwan Superstrength The hu These exosuits are not Rule number two: respect the power of these machines Mess around in these and you will kill someone The prototypes for these machines were around when I was a cadet Those versions were only seventeen tiot to witness one cadet juh as he could in an exosuit Before he s, he had a head Afterward, he had so that resembled a smashed watermelon on top of his neck"

Toured if he ju before his head got smashed That would work He was sure of it

"That’s why I’ you the old-fashioned way how to use these," Blackburn finished, "working onexosuit use into your brain There’s a funda and a s think in i to a person If I told him to jump thirteen point seven centimeters, however, he would estimate and be wildly off because precise numbers don’t mean much to the standard human brain Machines, on the other hand, are precision instruments They don’t understand ‘a little’ They do understand thirteen point seven centi to be precise with your movements The sole reason you can use these exosuits safely is because your brains are already part machine, but these are only safe if you’re careful So pick a suit, hook in, and wait for my instructions"

After Blackburn’s intro, most trainees approached the exosuits with trepidation Except Toerly hopped into his suit, flipped up the neck to connect it with his neural access port, and felt a thrill all over as the s and ar points He stood there a beat, wondering if he should wait for everyone else, and he decided not to He took a great, bounding step forward

He sailed eightstride, six meters with the second, eleven meters with the third Another couple steps, and Tom realized he was at the other side of the arena He wanted to live in one of these

And then he heard several loud clanks of exosuited legs pounding toward him Before he could whirl around to see who it was, a steel-and-alurip closed around the aluminum band across his collar and jerked hi, Raines?" Blackburn’s voice was furious

Dread pervaded Toaze back to meet Blackburn’s

"Didn’t you hear a word I said, trainee? These are dangerous I didn’t give you permission to move You could have killed someone! Now hold still" He seized To that traveled all the way up the exosuit Blackburn leaned in close so his gray eyes bore right into Toame"

Then Blackburn hoisted him up by the collar plate of the exosuit and carried hi there, arms at his sides, the eyes of the other trainees fixed on thee of a cat carrying a kitten by the scruff of its neck, and the giggles and sniggers of the other trainees stung his ears and confirht

Blackburn set hih exercise after exercise, working on finely tuned control, giving specific heights to juths to walk By the end of the lesson, Blackburn had progressed them at that same snail’s pace to the point where they could perforress than others Wyatt was reluctant to h when she did move, she was much smoother than people like Vik, who see jerks of his li, but ittoo much could make it difficult to breathe The truth was, he found exosuiting easy Very easy, actually--as natural as walking but a hundred ti Since the very sound of Blackburn’s voiceviolent, Too with his instincts whenever Blackburn was turned away At one point, Toe of certainty he could do so awesome here He crouched down then shoved off into a backflip

He wasn’t sure he could’ve landed one in real life, but now he clanked back to the ground on his feet with perfect ease Kelcy De at hied his shoulders "I’m awesome at this"

They rolled their eyes

Tom was disappointed He’d hoped they’d bewith his own exosuit, so Toood he ith it by doing a jig right in front of him