Rumble's voice crackled as it came out-of the speakers. "All systems reporting fine, Centurion. Fifteen seconds to range on my mark. You'll get no artificial visuals on vislight scan, only magres or infrared. Labels on all three. Mark. Good luck."

Kai dropped his hands onto the joystick controllers on the arms of the command couch. The control in his right hand directed the crosshairs that targeted for the autocannon and the forward laser, while the other joystick handled the aft-arc laser. The button under his right thumb triggered the autocannon, while the index finger triggers on both controls fired the lasers.

Warning klaxons heralded his entry onto the gunnery range with hideous shrieks. Snowshoe hares sprinted away from the small wooden shack the computer labeled a Goblin medium tank. Kai dropped the forward crosshairs onto its projected image, let them pulse bright gold for a second, then stabbed his thumb down on the firing button.

With a thunderous roar, the Centurion'sautocannon sprayed out a stream of depleted-uranium projectiles. They traced a line up the hill and into the shack. The door exploded in a cloud of splinters, then the roof disintegrated, spreading shingles all over the snowy hilltop. For the barest of moments, the unsteady structure remained standing, despite looking as though an invisible buzz-saw had split it right down the middle. Then, as Kai fought the autocannon's tendency to rise, the metal storm blew the rest of the building to pieces.

Almost instantly, off to the left, the computer painted the rusting skeleton of a bent and broken oil derrick with a label marking it as a Valkyrie.Kai swept the gold cross over to cover it, and snapped off a shot with the chest-mounted medium laser. The ruby beam shot low, vaporizing snow into great gouts of live steam. They rose up to form a thick white cloud that hung over the derelict tower, obscuring Kai's line of sight.

With his left hand, Kai shifted the display from vislight to magnetic resonance. The display went from normal visual analogs to a vector graphic picture of the landscape. For a half-second, the derrick appeared as it truly was, then the computer scrambled its lines and reformed them into the silhouette of the light 'Mech the derrick was supposed to represent.

Kai brought up the crosshairs and triggered the autocannon again. Through the display, he saw steel crossbraces spark and snap as the heavy weapon's shells slammed through them. The computer's projection, taking into account the nature of the damage that would have been done to the Valkyrie,sent shards of armor flying from the 'Mech's chest. Kai saw the Valkyriestagger as reports of the incredible damage done to it scrolled by on his primary data monitor.

The Valkyriecollapsed as its real-world analog sagged slowly to the ground. Beyond it, the computer identified another imaginary threat and another one after that. Kai, acting without thinking, sped through the targeting range. When the heat build-up in his 'Mech caused the heat monitors to rise from blue to green and then to yellow, he temporarily abandoned use of the autocannon and concentrated on using the lasers. Though they could do less damage—and the forward laser had a tendency to shoot low—they produced less heat for the 'Mech to dissipate.

At the end of the run, sweat pouring off him like rain, Kai laughed aloud. "I feel like I've been resurrected from the grave. That felt great!"

Rumble's reply fed back the enthusiasm in Kai's voice. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, that was bloody incredible. Your time/score ratio is only twenty points behind the base record—and that was with you compensating for a misaligned forward laser!"

Kai smiled broadly. "Thank you, Mr. Rumble." He wanted to make another comment, but hearing the pleasure in his own voice sent a haunting echo through his mind. That was easy, Kai, because those targets weren't shooting back. You've excelled at a game, but nothing more. One mistake, one misstep in battle, and you'll be very, very dead.

Kai sobered up. "We'll have to realign and recalibrate the forward laser. And I can't bypass a target, then take it out with the rear laser ..."

Rumble sounded confused. "But you did that after you executed the standard maneuver to evade fire from a Savannah Master hovercraft. That's the toughest target we have on this course and you snagged it with a clean shot."

"It was sloppy and stupid. That's the sort of thing you might expect to see in an 'Immortal Warrior' holovid." Kai caught himself and filtered the anger out of his voice. It's not his fault, Kai. You got carried away and got lucky. He's just commenting on your performance.

Kai forced some levity into his voice, though he no longer felt pleased with himself. "Have to remember the basics, Sergeant, and that's what these training runs are for. Let's leave the flashy moves for fighters on Solaris and the holovids."

"Yes, sir."

"And let's downplay the fact that this is Yen-lo-wangand how well I did on this run. In fact, if we could downplay who my father is, I'd appreciate it. I don't want some idiot who thinks he's a hero to be challenging me to timed runs through this course just to prove how tough he is."

"Got it. See you down in the 'Mech bay, Stall 1F00."

"Roger." Kai switched off the radio as he turned the Centurion and headed back into base. Be careful, Kai, and stay in control at all times. Your father programmed this 'Mech to remind you that he and your mother are proud of you. Don't do anything to change that.

8

Sector 313 Alpha, Sisyphus's Lament

The Rock System, Oberon Confederation

13 August 3049

"Hound Deuce to Hound Leader. I have positive contact." Phelan punched an increase in magnification into the computer of his Wolfhound."Kenny Ryan might think he's a chip off the old block, but we'll put an end to that lie right now."

Lieutenant Jackson Tang answered immediately. "Copy that, Deuce. Is this confirmed?"

"Affirmative, Leader." Dammit, Jack, I know the amount of iron in this rock has been playing hob with our sensors."I have a vislight image at one thousand mag. I mark one Locustand one Griffin at a klick. Their gold paint scheme and red insignia stand out against the rocks. Want me to count pores on the pilots for you?"

The tone of Tang's reply was apologetic. "Negative, Deuce. Good work. I've got your position. We'll be working our way up."

Phelan glanced at his auxiliary monitor, where the computer displayed a diagram of the star system for a myriameter in radius around his position. Up near the top of the display, Phelan saw the icon representing the JumpShip Cucamulus,but it was only shown at half-intensity green. That meant the asteroids between Sisyphus's Lament and the ship prevented communications between it and Tang's lance of four 'Mechs. Likewise, the hatf-intensity red icon used to mark the last-known position of Captain Wilson and the company's other two lances meant those other 'Mechs were incommunicado.

"Hound Leader, do I sit put until we establish a commlink with the base, or do I move in? I have cover out another five hundred meters." Phelan punched up a data feed and had the computer relay it to Jack Tang's Blackjack.

"Hold on, Deuce. The data feed is coming across fuzzy. Let's try to stick together on this. Don't want you jumped like you were back on Gunzburg. I'm one ridge behind you. Trey and Kat are coming up to your left."