Writers of the Future, Volume 29 by L. Ron Hubbard Read Free Book Online Page B

Snarky got his name from the crooked grin he gets on his mouthparts when he first sees a Scout. The grin is kind of endearing until you realize it has less to do with how pleased he is to see you than how tasty he thinks you are.
    Most of his kind avoid humans, but Snarky seems to enjoy the challenge. Snarky’s been learning from his encounters with Scouts. He attacks the right side now so that the Scout can’t get to his stunner. The kid did a decent job defending himself in spite of the arm. He managed to lob a few rocks at Snarky and even launched Snarky backward using his legs. When Snarky bared his fangs, I decided to end the match, stunning him with the bang-stick. The Base commander gets pissed if you bring back a dead recruit. It takes a lot longer to patch them up.
    Lester was holding the broken arm and looking green. “What the hell was that thing?”
    â€œLocal fauna.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you warn me?”
    â€œNobody’s gonna warn you on a new planet. If you aren’t ready, you face the consequences. Better get that bleeding stopped and set the arm before Snarky wakes up.”
    â€œAren’t you going to help?”
    â€œSure, I’ll give you all the advice you can stomach.”
    Lester made it halfway back to Base (probably courtesy of the coffee) before I had to call for a transport.
    I flirted with the nurses while the docs patched Lester up. My usual suave and debonair repartee wasn’t doing it that day. It may have been my recently acquired scars, but I noticed the nurses kept sneaking peeks at Lester sitting shirtless on the examining table.
    On the way back to the barracks, Lester looked sullen. “Come on,” I said. “Spill it. What’s eating you?”
    â€œWhat the hell kind of training was that?”
    â€œThe best kind. Half the veterans take their trainees out for a tête-à-tête with Snarky, half don’t. Of the ones who don’t, twenty-five percent lose their new partner on their first outing.”
    â€œAnd the ones that do?”
    â€œOnly ten percent.”
    Lester grimaced. “That’s still high.”
    â€œHey, I better than doubled your chances of survival. That should be worth a little pain.”
    Lester cradled his arm. “I guess so.”
    â€œYou’ll remember this and be prepared for your next encounter.”
    Lester moved in front of me. “So why doesn’t everyone use Snarky?”
    I stood there and looked the kid in the eye, which was some trick since he was a full third of a meter taller than me and my neck was stiff with burn scars. “If a guy loses enough new recruits, he gets paired with another veteran. That raises his chances of making twenty-five missions and going home with a full pension.”
    â€œThey let their partners die?”
    â€œThere’s three ways out of this organization: dead, disabled and twenty-five. You’d be surprised what a person will do when their own skin is at stake.”
    â€œWhat about you?”
    â€œMe, I’ll let Snarky beat the crap out of you to teach you a lesson you’ll never forget. That doesn’t mean I’ve got any illusions that you’ll be with me when I celebrate my twenty-five, even though I’ve got eighteen already. I’ve lost four partners. You could easily be the fifth.” We stood by the door of Lester’s room. “Tomorrow I go to Prime for surgery. They’re supposed to get rid of the burn scars and replace the knee. That gives you a couple of weeks to train on your own. I’ve set up a bunch of simulations for you to work on while I’m gone. If you baby yourself because you’ve got a broken arm, you’ll learn nothing. Think of the arm as added realism. When we’re off on a mission, we have to keep going—broken arm or not.”
    â€œI’ll get started on them now.”
    â€œTomorrow. Get some sleep.”
    I left Lester at his door