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To of the constraint everyone had sie faded, a list of na over it, soin the fly-along experience, you’ll ith the Combatants on some exercises in mental discipline," Cromwell said "The names up here will be today’s cohort to report to the Butler Rooroup will stay for the lecture, and report downstairs on Thursday"

To his name on there Wyatt’s was, as well Vik slu the lecture

"Right now, those of you on this list will report to the Smedley D Butler Conference Room on the twelfth floor You’ll come back for the lecture on Thursday Disroup e oil painting of General Butler, who’d foiled a fascist coup against President Franklin D Roosevelt in the 1930s, and a long table covered with decagonal devices The Middles sat down, and Elliot Rarinned broadly, and then Heather Akron trailed in behind hi inside sent her chilly looks, but Elliot dipped his head and gestured for her to take the lead

The beautiful brunette perched at the head of the table "Some of you are new to Middle Co here" Heather’s aaiety to her sroup internet relay chat nodes They let you hook in and coht interface That’s e’re going to practice today"

Thought interface? Toe?" Wyatther, after" She trailed off

Toht his eye and winked, so To, so-happy-to-see-you look on her face while she slipped hi about her that got to him sometimes He followed the sway of her body as she strolled around the table and picked up a decagon

"You may or may not know this, but there’s a function in your neural processors called net-send that allows you to send ht interface The net-send thought-interface function isn’t suitable for battle, though, because net-send directly captures the stray thoughts in your head"

To to Vik over net-send, How do steak boobs function? He wasn’t very good with thought interfaces He had stuck to net-sending with his forear ti space coroup coes sent are the do tiain some basicco to have two to three Cauys pair up, and let’s try this out together"

Toon they reached was the one in front of Heather and Elliot Tom’s stomach contracted as he watched Karl co out a neural wire Then Heather raised her eyebrows, and he smiled "Oh Of course Sorry, H I know you need to take the lead"

"Why, thank you, Elliot" Heather turned to Tom and Wyatt "Stick your neural wires into the ports on the decagon, sit down, then hook in like you would to any other machine"

Tom dropped into one of the cushy chairs, aware of Karl still standing, glowering at hion, then plugged the other end into the back of his neck, and the world grew utterly dark around him

I’m blind! He tried to say it, but his voice didn’t come out Tom flailed out his arh his brain that this was some plot of Karl’s or even

Footsteps dreard hirabbed his shoulders

"Relax, Tom" Heather’s breath tickled his ear He felt her hands brush the back of his neck, sending goose buers slid away "We’ve prograht and vocal cords while you’re hooked in It’s to help focus your concentration these first few tiuely threatening, "Do you want to join Tom or would you rather sit this one out?"

"I’ll do it," Wyatt snapped, and Toainst the darkness in his vision

After another moment or two, Heather’s naht, and the words appeared right there before his eyes

Then Heather thought, I wonder which one of the first? The words scrolled across Toht to himself, and to his mortification, the words appeared there