Free Machine World (Undying Mercenaries Book 4) by B. V. Larson Page A

get.
    Needless to say, I was confused. I went back to my bunk that night and thought about it, unable to sleep for nearly ten minutes. That’s not normal for me.
    When I finally did fall asleep I dreamt weird things. I dreamt about squids, and deserts, and beautiful nutty women.
    Around about three in the morning, my sleep was interrupted. Straps looped over my chest, legs, and throat. My eyes snapped open, and I moved to get out of bed, but I was pinned down to it. The room was dark and my roommates were gone. Figures stood all around me.
    As an experienced fighting man from Legion Varus, I pride myself on being prepared for violent action at all times. This was just one more of those times.
    My right hand slid out of the grasp of the man who was trying to pin it down. I managed this trick with the aid of the combat knife my parents had given me some time back. Knives in my time were sharper than they had been in the past. Using advanced metallurgical techniques and molecular alignments, a knife could be made to cut through flesh and bone as easily as paper. One could even puncture steel plate if driven with sufficient force.
    But of course before that could happen, the owner of the knife had to be a man paranoid enough to sleep with such a weapon in his grasp. I happened to be just such a man. Fingers, straps, blankets—they all parted before the glittering white line of my knife’s edge.
    One of my assailants started howling, he also released his grip on my forearm. My blade flashed up to the man holding a strap around my neck. This guy was quicker however, and he managed to get his two hands around my wrist before I could drive the point of my blade into his face.
    “Dammit McGill!” Harris hissed. “Stop struggling. This is the beginning of your trial!”
    “Sorry Vet,” I said.
    Someone snapped on the lights. I looked around at the men that surrounded me. They were the same veterans who had accosted me back on Earth.
    My knife made a sweeping motion, and they hastily withdrew their hands. I slashed my bonds and sat up on my bunk.
    “You boys really should let a man know when you’re going to pull something like this,” I said. “Somebody might get hurt.”
    Harris put his big face into mine. “You’re coming with us, candidate.”
    “Sure thing, Vet. Lead the way.”
    They retreated from my bunk while I got to my feet, stretched, and pulled on my clothes.
    As none of them were wearing armor, I didn’t bother to put on mine, either. They led me to Green Deck, and we followed the stream that wound through the middle of the forested section. The stream terminated and spilled into a tiny artificial canyon, forming a waterfall. We walked down a path to the bottom of the canyon.
    Overhead, I could see stars sliding gently by through the simulated glass dome. I could tell that the stars had shifted since the last time I’d looked at them with Della some hours ago. The pinpoints of white light moved with almost imperceptible slowness, like the hands of a clock.
    We reached the end of the path and stood at the sandy bottom of the canyon. I spotted a group of several other candidates. Their heads were in sacks, and they lay on their bellies with their wrists tied to their ankles. Each of them was trussed up like a Christmas turkey.
    “Oh, I get it,” I said. “I was supposed to be tied up, wasn’t I?”
    One of the veterans stepped up to me angrily. I recognized him in the starlight. He was none other than Veteran Johnson of 1 st Platoon.
    “You’re mocking us aren’t you?” he demanded.
    “Why no, Vet,” I said. “Whatever gave you that idea?” I knew I shouldn’t do it, but I gave him a little grin.
    “Settle down, Johnson,” said Harris. “You’ll get your chance.”
    Johnson never even looked at Harris. He kept eyeing me instead. “You know what would make me happy, McGill?”
    I glanced down at his hands. Sure enough, one of his two gloves looked half-empty. I realized then that he’d drawn