Read Online Psion Beta by Jacob Gowans - Free Book Online Page B

myself. The majority of those deaths were in the early days of the war, before we started the simulations and the Game.”
    Sammy’s mind buzzed. Byron had said a Psion’s life would be dangerous, but this was too much. Everyone else in the room seemed to be thinking the same thing. Brickert had his head down. Kawai stared at her hands. Natalia looked on the verge of tears again. Jeffie was less affected. She gazed hard at the commander, ready to hear more.
    Byron seemed to read their thoughts. “I told you all this was a deluge of information, but I have learned the best way to introduce this is at the start. It is why you are here and why you must give your very best every day. You are each here for a purpose. Your training will be hard, it will stretch you to your very limits, but I promise you that if you give everything you have, you will leave here prepared to face whatever comes.”
    He paused, as he had already done so many times, to look each of them in the eyes and show them his sincerity.
    “ Do any of you have questions or comments before we go on to an equally serious matter?”
    Sammy shook his head, as did Brickert. None of the girls responded.
    “ Do any of you now object to taking upon yourselves an oath of service to the New World Government as Psions?” he asked.
    Again no one objected.
    “ Please stand, raise your right hand, and repeat after me.”
    They followed his instructions. Byron began the oath and paused after each line so they could repeat it. Pride swelled in Sammy’s chest as he repeated the words. He thought of everything that had happened to him in the last year and hoped by making this oath, he could atone for the mistakes he had made. He thought less about his friends and more about his parents for the first time in a while.
    “ I am a servant of the people. On my own accord I declare my life is not my own. I will give my mind, my strength, and my heart to the service of the government so long as the government serves the interest of the people. With justice as my strength, I will protect the freedoms and liberties to which my people have a right. My life is not my own. I am a servant of the people.”
    “ All right,” Byron said, his eyes now a tinge redder. “I am so proud of each of you. Let me give you a tour of this fine building.”

 
     
     
    5. Racing
     
     
     
     
    The recruits followed the commander around headquarters for the better part of an hour. Psion Beta headquarters had six floors and was shaped like a giant cube. According to Commander Byron, the perimeter of the building was almost two kilometers. Betas had access to the first five floors.
    Combat simulations took up all the space on the fifth level. Byron briefly demonstrated how to operate the control panels in each room. All rooms employed state-of-the-art interactive holograms. The fourth level held a library and several classrooms each with a strange-looking machine Byron called a Teacher. On the third floor they saw the exercise facility, a huge recreation hall, and what impressed Sammy most: the cafeteria.
    The cafeteria boasted a fully-automated RoboChef. Sammy had heard of these amazing machines in his dad’s tech magazines. All he had to do was enter in a recipe, and the RoboChef could prepare almost any dish. Even Jeffie seemed impressed. As they moved on, Sammy looked back forlornly and his stomach grumbled.
    The next level down was the girls’ dormitory, while the first floor belonged to the boys. Although a stairwell connected the two dorms, only an eye-scan allowed access inside them. When he showed them the eye-scans for each dorm, Byron looked at them all gravely. “You are not allowed in the dormitory of the opposite sex. Do not try me on this. Most of you have already agreed, but I will repeat it anyway: sexual contact of any kind is not allowed. My job is enough work without dealing with your relationships. While you are here, practice strict abstinence. I will say no more about