Звездный десант

           sincehehadusbothsleep,hemustwantusbothawakeandalertnow."

           "Ithinkthatmustbetrue."

           "Mmm...anyideawhy?"

           Hewasratherlonginanswering."Mr.Rico,"hesaidslowly,"iftheCaptainknewhewouldtellus;I’veneverknownhimtoholdbackinformation.Butsometimeshedoesthingsacertainwaywithoutbeingabletoexplainwhy.TheCaptain’shunches--well,I’velearnedtorespectthem."

           "So?Squadleadersareallevennumbers;they’reasleep."

           "Yes,sir."

           "Alertthelanceofeachsquad.Wewon’twakeanybody...butwhenwedo,secondsmaybeimportant."

           "Rightaway."

           Icheckedtheremainingforwardpost,thencoveredthefourpostsbracketingtheBugvillage,jackingmyphonesinparallelwitheachlistener.Ihadtoforcemyselftolisten,becauseyoucouldhearthem,downtherebelow,chitteringtoeachother.IwantedtorunanditwasallIcoulddonottoletitshow.

           Iwonderedifthat"specialtalent"wassimplyamanwithincrediblyacutehearing.

           Well,nomatterhowhedidit,theBugswerewherehesaidtheywere.BackatO.C.S.