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Vortex SJ Kincaid 19530K 2023-09-01

To about or where a wolf had come into this converstion

"It ends when the boy meets a real wolf and no one co I fear is, it may already be too late There are too many drones, there is too aet back the country we once had The world’s enough of a prison for the rest of us that it won’t ht the next wolf--we h toin the distance, thinking of his own spot on the terror watch list So that’s the sort of thing Marshwolf" Apparently, he was a wolf now

"The security state is an iron fist," Marsh said, "and it is closing around our throats When I look at ine his future, and I don’t see one Those executives you randson will never be a part of it Exosuits and drones and neural processors are the beginning of the end for the rest of us In a few years, that club won’t need soldiers, they won’t need farmers, they won’t need those of us who have stayed useful to theeneration neural processors Joseph Vengerov’s trying to get in here, to prepare for the general populationit sends a shudder downobsolete, and this security state means we can be treated that ithout repercussion I was a part of this, son, and I owe it to randson, to my kids, to do what I can to tip back the scales in favor of the rest of us But I have to do it now And I need your help"

Tom eyed him uncertainly "Sir?"

"I told you why I recruited you, Raines: we need a different sort of Combatant We need someone with that instinct to ars, not just win public support I can’t beat these people"--he gestured vaguely toward Washington, DC--"but I can nudge thehter up there, soround and whet those executives’ appetites with the spoils of victory, not just the spoils they’ve looted froive e I need to obtain more Coet enough of those, and we can move on thatwhat’ll happen fro to need you to do your part and fix the situation with those CEOs"

Toazed out at the trees Easier said than done

"I don’t care what you think of theet into space Anything you do from here, Raines, should be oriented toward that objective"

"You don’t understand, sir The companies banned me"

Marsh’s eyes flashed to his "Have you really done everything you can do, To to you about this sort of thing if you didn’t have a brain in your head There’s a reason I’ my confidence in you, son: it’s because I know you’ll coh I know you’ll find a way"

Tom wondered why Marsh knew that Toet one of those cooing to be a Co less of you, Middle"

TOM STILL FELT a bit odd when he walked into his bunk later He’d expectedhe wasn’t sure He’d expected to be yelled at, at the very least, or maybe for Marsh to tell him what a failure he’d been

Tom stood there in the darkness with the Gor the five "would nots"

Marsh had such utter confidence that he’d fix this There was no reason for it, really For aTo about hi more and more expectation until it was i mass of it He knew he couldn’t do it He’d disappoint Marsh, he’d screw up, and he’d get sucked into that vortex because he was sure Marsh would give up on hiht of Medusa

He opened his eyes