Chapter 11: Training

I woke up in the dark. I reached out for the alarm clock and fell out of bed. The alarm clock wasn’t there. As I sat rubbing my head, I remembered that I wasn’t at home anymore.

I looked around and saw the other members of the Finger stirring in their beds. I wasn’t sure what had woken us up, but I figured that this was going to be just like the army I was used to where I would have to get out of bed at oh-dark-thirty.

"[Now that you are awake, you have half an hour to get ready, then meet outside.]"

I identified the voice in my head as being Finger Roberts. I decided to try something. I had been doing the concentration exercises constantly the previous afternoon and evening without knowing if they had helped me make any progress, so I concentrated hard and sent back "[On the way Finger-Leader.]"

There was a startled "[...]" and then "[Was that Cy Peters?"] from him.

"[Yes Finger Leader]" I replied.

"[OK. Good!]"

I got up from the floor and grabbed my towel and soap. I scratched through my locker to see if I could find a razor, but there was nothing like that there. I decided that if I hadn’t been provided with one then I would just have to go without shaving and ask the Finger-Leader about it later.

I had a fast wash in the stream. It was seriously cold and I started thinking about how I could arrange to warm the water for the future. I would have to see whether I could arrange some kind of fire-heated donkey.

I was a little reluctant to pull on the same outfit as the previous day, but when I inspected it, I was surprised to see that it was clean. I decided that this was either a technological marvel, or some sort of magic, but as usual when you had no idea what caused something then the two were functionally equivalent.

Washed and dressed, I waited for the others to join me. Finger Roberts was standing and waiting, but he had a distracted look to him and I guessed that he might be in the middle of a mental conversation with someone else.

Once we were all present, Finger Leader Roberts turned and started running with a "Follow me" tossed over his shoulder.

We ran for about two hours. Only the first few hundred meters was on a pathway, then we headed off into the jungle. We ran between trees, jumped over logs and rocks and waded through streams, all at what I would previously have thought of as a pace suitable for a 1500 meter race on the track. As we went Finger Leader Roberts kept up a constant mental commentary on the terrain that we were moving through as well as the flora that surrounded us. I was surprised at his encyclopedic knowledge, but soon realised that he was giving us very valuable information; information that could assist us to live off the bush if necessary.

At one point, he stopped and waited for us all to catch up, then pointed at the ground. "That’s the spoor of the most dangerous predator other than man on War World. It is a large cat we call a Smilodean that is similar to a cross between a jaguar and tiger. Take note of the spoor. I would recommend that you make every possible effort to avoid tangling with them. They are very efficient hunters of humans whom they consider to be a delicacy." He looked at us with a wry smile on his face.

"[Finger Leader?]" I decided to try the mental contact again. As I did it, it felt slightly different and I saw Desrae and Lian jerk in surprise.

"Yes Cy?’ Finger Roberts answered aloud. Then he noticed the reaction of the other two.

"Did you just hear Cy?" he asked them. Both Desrae and Lian nodded.

"Ok." Finger Roberts gave me a strange look as he asked "What is your question Cy?"

"I was wondering what the Smilodean ate other than humans?"

"Look closely at the spoor. It looks as if this Smilodean is tracking a buck. They are not exactly the same as what we have on Earth, but they are a close equivalent. They make good eating for us too."

With that he turned and started running again.

"[An important lesson for any soldier is that the terrain is the most important aspect of the Art of War.]" Finger Roberts was in lecture mode again.

"[The terrain determines your tactics. It will guide you to water and food, and where you go to look for those, your enemy is likely to do the same. It can give you the advantage by allowing you to see your enemy, or to hide you from the enemy. Remember that there are two sides to the coin, and your enemy will, if he has any sense at all, make just as efficient use of the terrain as you. You need to get into the habit of thinking tactically about the terrain as a continuous, unconscious reflex.You will only learn to do this if you practice it until you no longer have to think about it. Build a map in your head as you move. Look for clues about what the terrain will do based on what your experience is. Use the vegetation to guide you. For example, these trees here on the left only grow where the soil is constantly wet. Those up on that hill there will only flourish when there is well drained soil. Just by seeing those trees, you can predict that there will be hills or valleys, and knowing that you can predict dead ground and high ground.]"

He went on like this constantly. An incessant flow of valuable information. I remembered the advice that Roger de Vries had given us to listen closely during our training, and I was realising how apt that advice was. A lot of what Finger Roberts was telling us was universal, and something that I already knew. I already had the habit of evaluating terrain constantly with an eye to tactical deployment and advantage, and also specifically to predict possible ambush sites. What he was giving us though was that basic framework together with sufficient detail to make it applicable to this environment. I was determined to remember everything that he told us, although I started to realise that the mental communication seemed to make it a lot easier to store and organise the information, and thus easier to remember. If I concentrated, I could see that not only were his words coming into my brain, but that somehow, when he thought of something specific when he spoke in this manner, then that image was transferred as well, so I was slowly building up a mental reference of the flora that included images as well as the description of it’s use and characteristic.

"[A lot of what a soldier does depends on how he utilises terrain to his advantage.]" Finger Roberts continued, "[The actual fighting is often only the culmination of a long process. Often the outcome of the fight is predetermined by the success of the manouevring that has taken place leading up to the battle. If any of you have read Sun Tzu before you came here, you will remember that he speaks about the best victory being one where you don’t actually have to fight. That’s the best outcome.]"

This information continued throughout our run.

***

When we got back to our camp, there was someone waiting for us. We stopped at Finger Roberts’ command while he greeted the guy, then turned to us and introduced him, "This is Hand Leader Evans. Cy, could we speak to you please? The rest of you take some time to get refreshed."