"W. Suika Roberts" <ssfr@mac.com> writes:
Both of them are wearing helmets, protective leathers, and gloves.
Rei's got a firm grip on the panic handle. Usagi flutters the brake, clutch
and gas in an intricate pattern while wrenching the wheel around.
This causes the rear tires to start spinning, and the rear end to
slide around, the front tires holding almost still. Five pi over four later,
it stops, only a little crooked in the parking spot, facing back the way they
came.
Nice way to indicate who the narrator is.
`I'll do some research.'
`Kewl. You're the best, Ami-chan,' she gives me a firm hug, then
settles down in Rei's lap, waiting for the test.
The drop zone has been marked off, and everything for several
kilometers in either direction has been cleared of people and tall obsticals.
obstacles
`Good. We're actually in the black,' Usagi smiles, `I've gotten the
IOUs for the invasion paid, and the restructuring is still unblocking
resources. We should be able to start training people and issuing weapons in
another month, then.'
`Why are you so keen on arming everyone? I can see how having an army
is good, but why arm everyone?'
`I want to live in a country where anyone, be they a naked virgin with
a bag of gold in either hand, or a paranoid with a sachel charge, can wander
satchel, I think
around safely, unmolested. To that end, we need people who believe in the
government, who believe in doing what is right, who believe that the
government believes in them, and who can deal with anyone who doesn't.'
I ponder a moment, `So by arming everyone, you're saying that you
trust them.'
Now that's logic, I guess.
`Good, let me know how it goes. Any thought on a name?'
`Remember that book you gave me?'
`Which one?' Usagi looks puzzled.
I look back over the last few hectic months, Usagi had given me a lot
of books to read, hadn't she.
`Under the Yoke.'
Not exactly what I would have expected from Usagi, but I guess it fits
this one.
They all gather up, and with a few twists and a firm squeeze on the
M57 firing divice, all the demo-cord goes off. The poles and trees sag
slowly at first, then collapse to the ground all in a rush.
That's it for today's excersize, so the graders come out to tell them
how they did.
exercise
-
`Hey, how's the tool up for the em threes doing?' Usagi asks, dropping
onto her heels next to my desk.
Everywhere else you've had Usagi saying M16, M3... I'd suggest
consistency on that point.
All in all, I quite liked this. Clear theme, good dialogue, consistent
characterization, nice visuals, and hints at a much bigger picture of
what's going, and all at a very nice length. Perhaps most impressive
was that the information given on various guns didn't feel too much
like infodumping to me; there were legitimate reasons for the
characters to be saying what they did.