the ball. He handed it to Joshua then loomed over him , threateningly. ‘When over powered or surrounded by a much stronger, smarter and handsomer opponent...’ he paused for effect, letting his audience chuckle. ‘Simply throw it at yer feet.’ He nodded at Joshua, indicating the ground, then charged at him. Joshua barely had time to think as he took a step back and heaved the ball downward. A plume of smoke instantly flew up into his face, stinging his eyes and invading his nose, causing him to cough and hack.
Casey meanwhile, instead of the feigned attack, had grabbed an air filter off the table and put it over his face. The smoke quickly dissipated, and Casey addressed the audience while Joshua fought to get himself under control.
‘That was yer standard smoke pellet, fairly harmless,’ he drawled. ‘It will give you just over twenty seconds to get the hell outta Dodge before that handsome opponent comes at you, angrier than ever. A versatile tool, the smoke pellet can be laced with additives to yer preference for mission parameters, such as hypnotic drugs or lethal toxins.’
Casey smiled grimly. ‘We’ve had unconfirmed reports of a Confederate faction using similar t ech. So keep an eye out.’
He turned to the table and made a big flourish with his hands as he selected the next item. No one but Joshua noticed the small flat disc he threw, landing softly behind him. He picked up another one, this time displaying it for all to see.
‘Now this is a fun one,’ he turned it over. The device resembled a frisbee. ‘If you have the room to manoeuvre, throw it away from the direction you need to travel. Every distraction disc has a trigger built in to yer jumpsuits. Simply select what incapacitation type, lethal or non-lethal, and hit the activation. The disc will automatically scan its surroundings and emit a noise just loud enough to attract the attention of the nearest person.’
As he spoke, a low whistle came from behind Joshua who turned and walked in the direction of the noise. Joshua didn’t have much choice but to play along, as Casey would take any indication of insubordination to throw him back out on the streets of Chicago. He dutifully stepped on the disc, and his foot became stuck. The disc had become glued to the floor on the underside, and the topside attached itself to Joshua’s foot.
He flailed a bit, but kept his balance, barely. The audience laughed along with him.
Casey folded one of his fingers into his palm and shut off the device. ‘Retrievable and reusable, these “distraction discs” can be the difference between a milk run of a mission, or death.’ Joshua pull ed himself off the device and wearily shambled back to Casey.
He could see Casey’s mouth subtly moving, as though he was speaking to someone over a comm link during his lecture. Joshua thought he caught a name. Mr. M- something . Who was that? Casey abruptly stopped and smiled to himself as though he’d won the debate in his head. It happened so fast; no one else seemed to notice.
He selected his last toy for show and tell. It was a hybrid organic and synthetic eye, an iPC. The auditorium fell into a hushed silence. Joshua stared.
‘This contains the bio-ID,’ said Casey.
Chapter 15
Joshua crashed into the door of Dr. Prewett’s quarters, knocking over a beaker when the door slammed open. The doctor looked up at Joshua over his computer monitors.
‘That was expensive,’ he said. Joshua glanced at the beaker, but made no apology as he stormed over to confront Dr. Prewett.
‘When did you unlock the bio-ID ?’ Joshua demanded. ‘You didn’t tell me.’
‘Should I have?’ The doc sighed. ‘I don’t answer to you Joshua, or to anyone else.’
‘Casey just waved the General’s iPC in front of the entire school!’ Joshua fumed. ‘Every one of them will be scrambling to get to it somehow.’
‘Is that so bad Joshua? It will force them to work as a team. You’ve seen how there are
Casey meanwhile, instead of the feigned attack, had grabbed an air filter off the table and put it over his face. The smoke quickly dissipated, and Casey addressed the audience while Joshua fought to get himself under control.
‘That was yer standard smoke pellet, fairly harmless,’ he drawled. ‘It will give you just over twenty seconds to get the hell outta Dodge before that handsome opponent comes at you, angrier than ever. A versatile tool, the smoke pellet can be laced with additives to yer preference for mission parameters, such as hypnotic drugs or lethal toxins.’
Casey smiled grimly. ‘We’ve had unconfirmed reports of a Confederate faction using similar t ech. So keep an eye out.’
He turned to the table and made a big flourish with his hands as he selected the next item. No one but Joshua noticed the small flat disc he threw, landing softly behind him. He picked up another one, this time displaying it for all to see.
‘Now this is a fun one,’ he turned it over. The device resembled a frisbee. ‘If you have the room to manoeuvre, throw it away from the direction you need to travel. Every distraction disc has a trigger built in to yer jumpsuits. Simply select what incapacitation type, lethal or non-lethal, and hit the activation. The disc will automatically scan its surroundings and emit a noise just loud enough to attract the attention of the nearest person.’
As he spoke, a low whistle came from behind Joshua who turned and walked in the direction of the noise. Joshua didn’t have much choice but to play along, as Casey would take any indication of insubordination to throw him back out on the streets of Chicago. He dutifully stepped on the disc, and his foot became stuck. The disc had become glued to the floor on the underside, and the topside attached itself to Joshua’s foot.
He flailed a bit, but kept his balance, barely. The audience laughed along with him.
Casey folded one of his fingers into his palm and shut off the device. ‘Retrievable and reusable, these “distraction discs” can be the difference between a milk run of a mission, or death.’ Joshua pull ed himself off the device and wearily shambled back to Casey.
He could see Casey’s mouth subtly moving, as though he was speaking to someone over a comm link during his lecture. Joshua thought he caught a name. Mr. M- something . Who was that? Casey abruptly stopped and smiled to himself as though he’d won the debate in his head. It happened so fast; no one else seemed to notice.
He selected his last toy for show and tell. It was a hybrid organic and synthetic eye, an iPC. The auditorium fell into a hushed silence. Joshua stared.
‘This contains the bio-ID,’ said Casey.
Chapter 15
Joshua crashed into the door of Dr. Prewett’s quarters, knocking over a beaker when the door slammed open. The doctor looked up at Joshua over his computer monitors.
‘That was expensive,’ he said. Joshua glanced at the beaker, but made no apology as he stormed over to confront Dr. Prewett.
‘When did you unlock the bio-ID ?’ Joshua demanded. ‘You didn’t tell me.’
‘Should I have?’ The doc sighed. ‘I don’t answer to you Joshua, or to anyone else.’
‘Casey just waved the General’s iPC in front of the entire school!’ Joshua fumed. ‘Every one of them will be scrambling to get to it somehow.’
‘Is that so bad Joshua? It will force them to work as a team. You’ve seen how there are
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