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fine example for us all!" the general said. He shook Tom’s hand for the last time and moved away.
    Tom felt the tech types reattach the metal strap, and others held his head tightly in place. The Serpent's hatch was partly closed, and Tom felt the lead tech person now standing next to him. "Relax, Lieutenant. When you'll wake up, you'll be the pilot of the most advanced weapon the United States possesses."
    But Tom couldn't relax; there were too many unanswered questions. Why was all this security necessary so far from the front lines? Why were the security forces armed with so many anti-tank missiles? Why won't they reveal the names of the general, the lead tech person and the military units in charge? Why did they just pick three soldiers who didn't even know each other, let alone ever work together, to pilot these personal battle tanks? Why did they have just three days to learn to pilot these Serpents? Why did the general bring up his family and his captive sister? Why…
    A plastic breathing mask was now pressed onto Tom's face. Tom closed his eyes, and the strange world outside went away. There was precious little time for them, Tom suddenly remembered. The enemy must be stopped in six days. Tom rapidly inhaled from the strange-smelling mask and total darkness yawned before him.
     
     
     

Chapter 4
    Day Two, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
     
    Where was he?
    There was nothing but darkness. Tom tried opening his eyes but he couldn't. He tried again, fighting as hard as he could but he failed. There, … there were no eyes! He couldn't feel his eyes! He tried feeling his face with his hands but he couldn't move his hands. He couldn't feel them either!
                Tom tried taking a deep breath, but he couldn’t. He couldn't breathe!
                Help. Help me! Help!
                There was no voice. There was no mouth. He couldn't shout. There was nothing! There was—
                "Down the rabbit hole."
                A voice arose. A speaking voice in the darkness! Tom would have sobbed with relief, if only he could.
                "There, all set. Start the boot procedure."
                "'Batteries' is in the green. Power core is online. Internal network is online. Secondary and tertiary networks are operational. Internal sensors status is green. Monitoring system reboot completed. 'Engines and circulation' is online. Optical and radio sensors checking sequence initiated. Quantum processing initiated. Self-diagnosis routines running. Gyros beginning rev-up sequence. Power consumption is nominal. Interim and management processors communicate normally."
                It went on and on, an endless checkup list that meant nothing to Tom, but its very existence was somehow comforting. It was a human voice, even though it droned endlessly. It was still human, something to drive away the darkness. Tom still could not breathe but some of the panic went away. The human voice running down its inscrutable checklist kept reporting everything was okay. No reason to worry.
                What was that thing with the rabbit?
                "Lieutenant Riley, can you hear me?"
                It was the voice of the unnamed man with the ponytail. Yes, yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me? Does somebody hear me? If I could only move a hand, or—
                "Very well! Lieutenant Riley. You might have noticed you can't speak or move. Yet. That's because we're booting up the Serpent's systems step by step."
                So why did you ask me if I could hear you, Bastard?
                "So far you have only hearing. We're going to add more systems, step by step. Are you ready?"
                Tom said nothing. He couldn't say anything anyway, but he wouldn't have said anything even if he could. That bastard round glasses man. Probably being nice was not a job requirement in this