Free The Final Key: Part Two of Triad by Catherine Asaro

took off and ran hard, her feet drumming the ground. The perplex surface bucked, trying to throw her off balance, but she had evaded enough of the Echo sensors that it had trouble judging her stride. It failed to toss her to the ground.
    The pool lay before her, serene, reflecting the pale sky like a visual echo. Its mirror quality came from oil that coated its surface. The first times she had done the course, she had tried running around the stone rim, but keeping her balance had proved impossible. She always slipped into the oil and ended up covered with crud. Today she jumped. The pool was too large to clear even with her enhanced muscles, so she leapt to the rim, touched down, and leapt again. A third jump and she cleared the pool.
    Next she faced the aural labyrinth, an enclosed maze of tunnels that echoed, making it hard to judge direction. The walls rose higher than her head. Inside, she lost her way
    twice and had to backtrack. She kept running, pushing to the limit, and exited the maze on the far side.
    Rebounders crashed and bounced ahead of her, a series of gates that operated in complex rhythms, snapping open and slamming closed. She dodged through the clanging portals, but they managed to crash into her body anyway. She didn't fall because they struck from both sides and held her up, but it felt like hell. Gritting her teeth, she kept going. By the time she lurched through the last gate, she was gasping. She stumbled into a white sand trap and leaned over, her hands braced on her knees while she heaved in air.
    As her pulse calmed, she straightened up and looked around. Stone was a few paces away, studying his timer. As Soz walked over to him, he glanced up.
    "Nine minutes, fifty-two seconds," he said. "Almost the record."
    Oh, well. "Almost isn't good enough."
    "It is when it's honest." He spoke quietly. 'It's a good time, Soz. Be proud of it."
    She had to admit, this result felt far better than when she had shattered the record last time. "Thank you, sir."
    For the first time in ages he smiled at her. "Good luck on Roca's Pride."
    Soz grinned. "Good name for a ship, eh, sir?"
    He chuckled. "That it is."
    They headed back then, he to the first-year cadets and she to the dorms. She was almost there when someone fell into step beside her. She glanced up to see a tall fellow with dark hair and eyes, broad shoulders, and devilish good looks, one of the cadets who had been doing calisthenics with Stone's class. He saluted her with a powerful slap of his crossed wrists.
    Soz returned the salute. "At ease."
    "Thanks." He looked her over.
    "Who are you?" Soz asked.
    "Rex. Rex Blackstone."
    "Well, Rex Blackstone, what do you want?"
    He wasn't the least intimidated by her bluntness. "I saw you run the Echo."
    Soz shrugged. "It wasn't much."
    "Looked like much to me."
    Soz was tired, not to mention jittery about leaving Diesha. "You want something, Blackstone?"
    "Maybe." He considered her with that appraising gaze of his. "I want to get a look at the wildcat they call the toughest, smartest, worst-behaved cadet at DMA."
    Soz gave a startled laugh. "Well, you got your look."
    His eyes flashed with a wicked glint. "Remember me, Val-doria. When you're in command of the toughest, smartest, most notorious squadron of the J-Force, I'll be flying with you."
    "Is that a challenge?" "Hell, yes."
    "All right, you got it," Soz said. "You graduate top of your class and when I'm in command of that squad, I'll tell HQ you're one of mine."
    "Deal." He held out his arm, his fist clenched. Soz laid her wrist on top of his, her fist also clenched, searing the pact as Jagernauts had done since the first pilots took to space.
    Rex jogged off then, headed to the first-year dorms. Watching him, Soz felt a chill run up her back. She suddenly had a vision of him jogging with her out to a tarmac where four Jag fighters waited. Gray streaked his hair and he wore the gauntlets of a Secondary, the second-highest rank in the J-Force.
    She wore those of