Dario nodded and set himself for another try. Beside Justin, Wilosha hissed through his teeth. "Problem?" Justin asked him.
"Just... wondering."
"What about?" This time Dario did better.
"Oh... Cobras." Wilosha waved his hand vaguely. "The nanocomputers, if you insist on specifics. Has it ever occurred to you that no one on the Cobra Worlds really knows anymore just exactly how the things are programmed?"
"I don't let it worry me," Justin told him. "The Academy supervises every step of the nanocomputer manufacture."
"Oh, right. So they supervise a bank of automated circuitry replicators-what does that prove? Does a list or printout exist anywhere showing exactly what the nanocomputers are or are not capable of?"
"What are you worried about, that the Dominion of Man may have planted a program bomb?" Justin asked quietly. The conversation, he noted, was beginning to attract his students' attention.
"No, of course not," Wilosha shook his head. "But there doesn't have to be deliberate malice involved to make something dangerous."
Justin looked at him for a long moment. It would serve the man right to expose him here and now, in front of a roomful of Cobras... but it would be a childish trick, and Justin was long past the age for childish tricks. "Cobras, take a break," he called. "Be back in fifteen minutes."
The others filed out without comment or question, and a minute later Justin and
Wilosha were alone. "I hope it wasn't something I said," Wilosha commented, his voice almost light but his expression tight and wary.
"Just wanted a little peace and quiet," Justin told him, and threw a punch at the other's face.
Wilosha could never have evaded a serious attempt to hit him, not with Justin's
Cobra servos driving the punch. But his reflexes tried their best, throwing his arm up in front of his face... and because Justin had his audio enhancers on and knew what to listen for, he caught the faint whine of servos from the other's arm.
"What the hell was that all about?" Wilosha snarled, taking a hasty step back toward the wall.
Justin made no move to follow. "Just showing you how easy it is for a Cobra to identify a Ject. Even with the restraints your nanocomputer puts on your servos, they still kick in to that limit when you react as quickly as you just did."
Wilosha's lip twisted. "A great technique, for sure. I can just see you walking down the streets of Capitalia throwing punches at everyone you pass. You could have just asked me, you know."
"Asked you what? I already knew what you were. This was just to prove to you that I knew."
"Of course. You probably had me spotted ever since we lifted, right?"
Justin snorted gently. "No. Only since you started showing up at every other practice with your mouth spitting venom and your eyes looking envious. What conclusion would you have come to?"
"I don't envy you," Wilosha snapped. Too quickly. "I come to your workouts to keep an eye on you-nothing more."
"Keep an eye on us for what? What is it about us that you're so afraid of?"
Wilosha took a deep breath. "I don't think this is the right time for a debate,
Moreau. So you might as well get your team back in here and continue-"
He broke off as Justin took a long step toward the door, blocking the other's quiet move in that direction. "Actually, Wilosha, I think this is an excellent time for a debate," he told the other coldly. "Or at least for a little chat.
There are some things I'd like to know, starting with why the hell you Jects are trying to make a lifelong career out of sour grapes."
For a moment Wilosha glared at him in silence. "You're not more than a couple of years younger than I am," he growled at last. "You must be feeling the first twinges of Cobra Syndrome arthritis. That's what the Lord High decision-makers of the Academy did to us: sentenced us to a premature death, and for nothing.
Don't you think that's enough reason for us to be bitter?"
"No," Justin said flatly. "I'm sorry, but it's not. Nobody beat you over the head and forced you to apply to the Academy. You knew the risks going in; and if it didn't work out, then those are the breaks. Life requires certain sacrifices-on everyone's part. And as long as we're on the subject of premature deaths, you might recall all the Cobras who've died a hell of a lot younger than you are fighting spine leopards."
A muscle twitched in Wilosha's cheek. "I'm sorry. But it's not the ones who've died for Aventine that we object to."
"All of us have risked our lives," Justin reminded him. "You can't single out those who happen to have survived to vent your contempt at."
"It's not contempt," Wilosha insisted. "It's an honest and legitimate concern over the problems we see in the whole Cobra system."
Justin felt his stomach muscles tighten. "You sound like Priesly banging his fist over the net."
"So Governor Priesly's done the best job of putting it into words; so what?"
Wilosha countered. "The point is still valid: that when you're on the outside looking in you get a different perspective on things. You Cobras see the prestige and physical power and political double vote; while we see the elitism and the arrogance that goes with absolute job security."
Justin favored him with a cold smile. "Absolute job security, hm? That's very interesting... especially given that that's exactly what Priesly's gotten out of you and the other Jects."
Wilosha blinked. "What are you talking about? The governorship isn't a permanent position."
"I wasn't talking about the governorship. I was referring to his status as head and chief speaker for a highly vocal political group. Think it through, Wilosha.
Aventine can't simply get rid of the Cobras, for reasons you know as well as I do."
"We don't want to get rid of you, just alter your power structure to-"
"Just shut up and listen, will you? So all right; if the Cobras are always going to exist, why shouldn't an organization whose sole purpose in life is to oppose the Cobras do likewise?"
For a moment Wilosha stared at him. "Are you suggesting," he said at last, "that
Governor Priesly started this whole movement solely to create a political base for himself?"
Justin shrugged. "You know more about the inner workings of your group than I do. Is that how he's using it? You might start by deciding whether or not you were this bitter about being rejected from the Cobra Academy before Priesly told you you ought to be."
"You're twisting the facts," Wilosha growled. But he didn't sound totally convinced. "Through Priesly we threaten your elite status, so of course you try to impugn his motives and activities."
"Perhaps," Justin said quietly. "But I didn't send someone charging into his office trying to make the Jects look like dangerous homicidal maniacs. Think about it, Wilosha. Do you really want to be on the side of a man who deliberately mangles truth in the name of political power?"
Wilosha snorted. "You're skating pretty close to slander," he said. "Unless you have some proof that that incident happened the way you claim it did. Some proof besides your brother's word, of course."
Justin felt disgust rising like bile in his throat. "Oh, for-" He took a breath, released it through clenched teeth. "Just get out of here, Wilosha. I haven't got time to waste arguing with someone who's already decided to let the party do his thinking for him."
Wilosha's face darkened. "Look, Moreau-"
"I said get out. We've got work to do."