Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) Read Online Free Page B

quad was quite busy, and
well lit. Something he wasn't at all in favor of. Being a creature of
the dark he preferred skulking around where it was quiet.
    They were in a
rented park on a deck he'd never been on before. The park was big,
quite large, with trees being planted around the perimeter. A path
was there, some dirt path that ran along the entire perimeter. He
wasn't sure what that was about. The trees and old statues were nice
though.
    He tugged at the
collar of his gray sweats then grimaced as he heard the stitches rip
a little. Damn thing. Human thing. Every Neo hated clothing. It
itched like no tomorrow after a few minutes of wearing it. It matted
his fur, making it hard to groom properly. He rumbled a sigh. “This
oughta be good,” a voice said from the group sitting or lying
in the grass nearby.
    He looked over to
see a marine straight out of an old recruiting movie coming over. He
was whipcord thin, and since he had a dog's body, obviously a genie.
Most likely a Neo. He was wearing pea green marine khaki's, with a
lighter green top. His uniform was crisp, with fold lines that looked
sharp enough to cut with. A crop was tucked under his good arm. The
other sleeve had a prosthetic claw just before the elbow. He had a
classic drill instructor wide brim cover on. With that eye patch and
snarl he looked like he meant business.
    He marched through
the quad not looking left or right. People instinctively straightened
and got out of his way. Students, teachers, staff. It didn't matter,
they all scattered in his wake. Behind him two more DI's followed.
    “ On your feet
maggots!” he snarled, coming to a parade rest in front of the
group. Some of the group jumped to their feet. Others rose with
fatalistic indifference.
    “ Now hear
this. You sorry excuses for recruits are about to enter hell.”
He smiled. On a Neo-Doberman hybrid as battle scarred as he was it
wasn't a pleasant sight. He sniffed the air. “Pussy. Get your
ass over here,” he growled. He turned to look squarely at
Jethro.
    Surprised Jethro
froze and then hissed. His fur fluffed up and then he quietly came
out of the shadows to join the back of the group. “Welcome
welcome all,” the Doberman barked, looking around. His wide
brimmed hat turned as he looked them over. “I see we need to
sort out you lot. Normal humans over there.” He waved a clawed
hand towards another DI. “The rest of you get to learn from
me.”  He pointed to the yellow foot prints painted onto
the tarmac. “Feet on the marks move it move it!”
    Hastily the genies
and aliens moved to obey. A few of the larger species had to be
guided to the back. He had them dress ranks by standing with one arm
outstretched.
    “ You people
are too stupid to pour piss out of a boot with printed instructions
on the heel! All right we're going to do this right. Human twits that
way.” The human DI pointed with his crop when they didn't move
fast enough.
    The humans in the
group looked surprised and then went off to the other DI. “Move
like you mean it maggots!” the DI's snarled. They moved into a
trot, and then run.
    “ You've all
had your shots and your check up. Your nice long chat with the
doctors to make sure you're playing with a full deck. You're not, you
are after all, volunteers. That alone says your IQ isn't double
digits. You'll see why in a short while,” he said. He had a
slight smile on his muzzle. Jethro noted it wasn't a particularly nice smile at all. That
didn't bode well.
    “ In a moment
corporal Jefferson is going to go around with a bag. Anything
contraband goes in the bag. This is your one and only free pass.
Don't waste it. This is your one chance to get this right. We catch
you with something contraband and you'll wish you'd never been born.”
He glared around with his brown canine eye and then turned. His eye
patch and battle scars made him look particularly vicious.
    The DI assistant
walked down the rows with an open bag. A few things were thrown in
after he