The dreaded whistle blew twice. An audible groan escaped the young men plodding their way through another lap. Matt hit the floor beside his friends. "One of them has to win soon, don't they?" he gasped desperately.
"Maybe," Jim grunted his way through his sit ups, "they're just going to make us do this all day."
"I really hope they have a point limit. When we started, I hated Braxton every time he missed. Now I hate him for not missing more often so we can end this faster."
Jim forced himself to his feet. "Sy? You look like you're going to vomit, you okay?"
Sy stumbled to his feet. Unable to do pushups, he had been given permission to do sit ups every time instead. His abdomen was on fire. Reluctantly he nodded and gasped an affirmative. The three boys started their slow jogging again.
The whistle blew once. Jim collapsed to his knees. Over the whimpers of pain Sergeant Wilskin announced, "Match point! Good game Recruit 628!"
"Finish your push ups, men, then you may get a drink." Mr. Parr had never sounded so much like an angel.
Jim did not understand how his arms did not give out on him during his last set of push ups. His whole body was drenched in sweat. Everything ached. His heart slammed against his burning lungs. He was never going to eat again, his stomach hurt too much.
Matt spilled half his water on himself as he drained his canteen. His arms shook as he finished the last drops. "I'm getting in line to refill. Coming?"
Jim took another small sip of his water. If he drained it too fast he knew he would hurl. "I'll stand with you guys. Come on, Sy. You're going to need the liquids."
Sy nodded. His face was red from exertion. Jim wrapped a gentle arm over his new friend's shoulders. Sy leaned into him as they made their way to the line.
Braxton joined them a minute later. He handed Matt his own canteen. 628 hung off his arm. "You three okay?" The cyborg cast a worried look towards Sy and Jim. "Can either of you stand without support?"
"Don't know, not going to try." Jim was more than content exactly how he was. His legs felt like jello and he was certain his arms had gone numb. "Lose faster next time. I don't have the energy to beat you up right now."
Braxton patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. "I'll fight myself for you. Don't worry. You'll lose appropriately." He accepted his now empty canteen back from Matt.
628 climbed up higher onto Braxton's head. "Kanjijibe, ziz-ziz." He rotated the dial behind Braxton's metal ear.
Braxton laughed. "Aw c'mon man, I had that tuned to the teacher channel. Alright. Let's seeā¦.stop there!" He paused, then started reciting, "-'maintenance request 875. Window was not jammed, just locked. Closing request 875.'
"'Copy that, thank you.'
"'We get the dumbest requests sometimes.'
"'At least that was an easy one. You remember the request we had for the haunted pipes? How many times did that particular one get resubmitted?'"
628 laughed wildly and spun the dial again to find a new channel.
Jim raised an eyebrow. "Man you do like him. You won't even let us touch your hardware."
Sy was still bright red in the face but stood a little straighter. "You shouldn't listen in on private conversations, Braxton." He took a gulp from his canteen before continuing. "Especially ones that are supposed to be inaccessible to us. What if you stumble across military secrets or someone hears you saying something compromising?"
Braxton waved him off. "You worry too much. Oh, stop here little buddy! Sounds like the control tower. I want to listen to them directing the ships for takeoff."
"Braxton, it's not right," Sy pressed.
Braxton was unconcerned. "The teachers know I sometimes listen in to their communications. They change frequencies sometimes and have been using different types of radio. I had to upgrade my ear over the break to pick up on their latest waves."
"It's harmless, Sy." Jim gave him an apologetic smile. "Besides, he hears some really cool things sometimes, so we get a heads up. Like, we knew that Mr. and Mrs. Parr were starting before anyone else. Mr. Parr almost went by Mr. Incredible so we wouldn't know they were married. They've even got a son that's living with them. Best we can figure he's a little younger than us and will be joining up real soon."
"Jim!" Sy pulled from under Jim's arm. "You support him?"
Jim shrugged. "He's my friend, Sy. And like I said, it's all harmless stuff." Sy gave Jim a blistering look.
As they neared the front of the line Braxton peeled off to the side to stay out of the way. Jim reluctantly stepped away from Sy and drained the last of his water. The boys filled their canteens from the fountain in tense silence.
