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Read Ebook: Allen's West London Street Directory 1868 by Allen Samuel
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Ebook has 77 lines and 2391 words, and 2 pages
Lane looked sadly at her. Only two kinds of girls ever went near a Trooper--the crazy ones and the ones the city paid. Why did he have to be so near getting killed when he met one he liked? Now that she was showing a little less fear and anger, she was talking straight to him. She was good, but she wasn't acting as if she was too good for him.
"They'll start shooting pretty quick," said Lane. "I'm sorry about you."
"I wish I could write a letter to my parents," she said.
"What?"
"Didn't you understand what I said?"
"What's a letter?"
"You don't know where Mars is. You don't know what a letter is. You probably can't even read and write!"
Lane shrugged. He carried on the conversation disinterestedly, professionally relaxed before battle. "What's these things I can't do? They important?"
"Yes. The more I see of this city and its people, the more important I realize they are. You know how to fight, don't you? I'll bet you're perfect with those weapons."
"Listen. They been training me to fight since I was a little kid. Why shouldn't I be a great little fighter?"
"Specialization," said the girl from Mars.
"What?"
"Specialization. Everyone I've met in this city is a specialist. SocioSpecs run the government. TechnoSpecs run the machinery. Troopers fight the wars. And ninety per cent of the people don't work at all because they're not trained to do anything."
"The Fans," said Lane. "They got it soft. That's them down there, come to watch the fight."
"You know why you were kept in the Armory, Lane? I heard them talking about it, at the dinner I went to last night."
"Why?"
"Because they're afraid of the Troopers. You men did too good a job out in Chi. You are the deadliest weapon that has ever been made. You. Single airborne infantrymen!"
Lane said, "They told us in Trooper Academy that it's the men that win the wars."
"Yes, but people had forgotten it until the SocioSpecs of Newyork came up with the Troopers. Before the Troopers, governments concentrated on the big weapons, the missiles, the bombs. And the cities, with the Shells, were safe from bombs. They learned to be self-sufficient under the Shells. They were so safe, so isolated, that national governments collapsed. But you Troopers wiped out that feeling of security, when you infiltrated Chi and conquered it."
"We scared them, huh?"
Gerri said, "You scared them so much that they were afraid to let you have a furlough in the city when you came back. Afraid you Troopers would realize that you could easily take over the city if you wanted to. You scared them so much that they'll let me be killed. They'll actually risk trouble with Mars just to kill you."
"I'm sorry about you. I mean it, I like--"
At that moment a titanic, ear-splitting explosion hurled him to the carpet, deafened and blinded him.
He recovered and saw Gerri a few feet away, dazed, groping on hands and knees.
Lane jumped to the window, looked quickly, sprang back. Cybrain pumped orders to his nervous system.
"Blaster cannon," he said. "But just one. Gotcha, cybrain. I can beat that."
He picked up the black box that generated his protective screen. Snapping it open with thumb-pressure, he turned a small dial. Then he wa
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