Grendel Unit 2: Ignition Sequence by Bernard Schaffer Read Free Book Online Page B

glimpse of his patient. The HUGO had safely floated away, vanishing into the foggy sky to wait until he was eventually picked up by a recovery craft. Or, left bouncing against the arena's ceiling rafters until they ended the scenario and let him down, Frank thought.
    The enemy line had stopped in front of him , rifles raised, waiting for him to make a move. Frank did the only thing he could think of. He fumbled on his gear belt for a moment before he raised his hands and said, "I surrender."
    There was a metal ring dangling from his thumb as he lifted his hands. The activated grenade on his belt started vibrating and humming, getting ready to explode. Frank took a deep breath as he walked toward the Sapienists, smiling the entire time.
     

5. You Can't Fade Me
     
    Frank came to, slowly, in a hospital bed, rolling back and forth until he finally opened his eyes. He winced in the harsh sunlight pouring through the sickbay windows. He looked around at the room's blinking machines and ventilators and plasma dispensers and thought, "Another explosion has left me in yet another hospital bed. I've had about enough of waking up like this."
    He pushed up on his elbows and looked down, visually inspecting himself to make sure all of his body parts were still there. He recalled a vivid dream where he'd activated the grenade and it had blown off both his legs. He remembered lying there on the arena floor, trying to pull the plastic compression bags over the remaining stumps like a man trying to put on his socks. There were body parts of dozens of HUGO training dummies scattered on the ground around him, a dozen severed heads all repeating "Owowowowowowowowowow" in unison.
    He looked down at his feet and wiggled his toes , sighing with relief that they were still attached. Everything else seemed to be in place, too. He turned slightly and winced at the soreness along his left side where the grenade had exploded, and the skin there was red as if sunburned. The only other thing he could feel was a dull throbbing pain in the back of his head, and it hurt when he touched it enough to make him woozy and want to vomit.
    Frank swung his legs down from the bed and braced himself to stand up , just in case his legs gave out. He heard someone coming down the hall and called out, "Hello?"
    A nurse dressed in a white jumpsuit poked her head inside the room and said , "You're up? Took you long enough."
    " How long was I out?" Frank said.
    She looked down at her chart and said , "A day or so. Looks like you whacked your head pretty good when the grenade went off. The same cannot be said for the poor dummies."
    Frank looked at her , "What happened to the dummies?"
    " I'll let the General explain it," she said. She turned around and said, "Put on your uniform and follow me. I'm under orders to bring you directly to General Milner when you wake up."
    " General?" Frank said. "There's a General who wants to see me?"
    " He flew in this morning. I wouldn't keep him waiting much longer if I were you. They're already pretty pissed about your little stunt."
    Frank grabbed his uniform from the side of the bed where it was folded and hopped into it , wondering if maybe it wasn't such a good thing that he hadn't had his legs blown off after all.
    "I thought it was brave, though," she said, looking back at him from the doorway. "I've been here a few years and nobody has ever solved their final exam like that."
     
    She led him into an office area above the Academy, following a long line of glass windows that overlooked the massive stadium where he'd taken the test. Without all the smoke and fog, Frank could see that the walls and ceiling and floor were all white and there were multiple cameras positioned all around to catch every angle. The nurse stopped at the end of the hallway and said, "Go ahead in."
    " Thanks," Frank said dryly. "You aren't giving me much confidence, to be honest."
    She walked away and he watched her, deciding he needed one last good thing to