The drill sergeant tried unsuccessfully to place the accent on Leong-Lam’s Mandarin even as he reeled at the quick and annoyingly correct response.

“Are you telling me my business, boy?” he said more quietly, with all the considerable venom he could muster.

“No, Drill Sergeant.” shouted the soldier.

“Seems you think you already know the rules here, boy, maybe you think you don’t need to go to Officer Training School?” he shouted, “Do you think you are going to be an officer, boy?”

“Yes, Drill Sergeant.” was the shouted reply.

“Well, we’ll see, won’t we,” said Shih quietly once more, then, back at his practiced and phenomenal top volume he screamed, “On the floor, give me fifty of your most patriotic, boy.”

With the aplomb of the very strong and very supple, Leong-Lam dropped straight forwards, cushioning his fall with his hands, and proceeded to push through forty of his fifty push-ups with straight-backed ease. Drill Sergeant Shih looked on and started to get annoyed; this was not supposed to look this easy.

Sensing anger at his ability, Leong-Lam changed tactics and began to strain at forty, flagging at forty-five, and finally collapsing at fifty, wheezing, and struggling to his feet with feigned difficulty.

Though happy he had broken his new whipping boy, the sergeant also noted to himself that the candidate did not complain or seem even slightly dismayed at the clear injustice of his punishment. Good, he would certainly not go easy on him, but maybe this one had promise. Now the fat tub of lard next to him, on the other hand:

“Do you think you can do better?” he screamed as he brought his guns to bear on this softer target.

“Where did you get your clothes from, you disgusting lump?” he barked, “The zoo?”

* * *

Two days earlier, outside the town where he would eventually be picked up by the army bus and delivered into Drill Sergeant Shih’s loving arms, Leong-Lam had stood at the bottom of a wooden telephone pole. In orbit above him an eye was watching him and his surrounding area, checking for coming traffic.

Lowering his now full bag from his back to the soft, wet soil along the side of the deserted road, he bent and looked at its featureless top. As he stared, a small opening formed on the bag’s surface, revealing a pouch just larger than the inch-long device it contained.