"You may take a few trillion nanoseconds to take the measure of your enhanced capabilities. In particular, get to know your new brain. It was harvested from a nurnan military officer during the initial fighting. Its
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memories and personality have been retained. You may find them illuminating in your new position."
D AV was already probing the data stores of the new brain and was finding them fascinating. He could sense the new brain's own awareness, a subset of DAV's, a tiny, terrified knot of being trying to work out what had happened to it even as the brain it rode within processed new data and extended its collaboration with DAVs four AI processors.
Probing gently, he felt the being's sense of personal identity, felt the panic-edged swirl of thoughts touched by nightmare terror. Normally, those thoughts were carefully sealed off from DAVs overall awareness, but they flavored the new brain's workings, giving them a distinctive taste.
DAV sampled the thoughts, savoring their alien strangeness. There was much here that might be useful.
The personality behind them thought of itself as Jeff Fowler, and it was wondering what had happened to its Bolo.
Shari looked up as Jaime staggered in. She'd been waiting here in die Barracks, next to the pile of rags he called home, waiting for him.
It had been a long wait.
"Jaime!"
He looked as though he could barely stand. His hard-muscled body was coated with gray mud; his beard and long hair were thick with the stuff, giving him the look of a statue carved from gray rock. Only his eyes showed any life at all... and to look into them was disturbing,
"Shari," he said, his voice a harsh croak. "Are you ... all right?"
She nodded, acutely, embarrassedly aware of how clean her body was in comparison with his. She only felt dirty.
"Shari . . . ?"
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"I'm okay, Jaime. The bastard's chosen me before ... and others have too. My only worry is that someday my shots will wear off and one of those traitor bastards will make me pregnant."
He nodded and slumped to the floor beside her. She saw an angry welt along his chest and right side, visible even through the slick, wet clay. "You're hurt!"
"Wasn't. . . much. Thinking .. . worrying about you kept me going."
"But what happened?"
"Floater zapped me. Don't even know why. It just... came up behind me and let me have it."
She felt an unsteady lurch of fear within. "Do you think they know?"
He shook his head. "I don't think so. Like I told Wal ... if they knew, we'd be dead. I think . . . maybe . . . they noticed a bunch of us together, somehow. They don't know what we're up to, but they damned sure don't want us to do it again. Wal and Dieter and the others all got burned too."
Shari nodded. The first tiling you learn here, I found out a long time ago, was to stay inconspicuous. The nail that sticks up gets hammered, you know? Anyone who does anything to attract attention to themselves gets hurt.. . ."
