Blackburn inserted his legs into the wide, leg-shaped frames of an exosuit, then shoved his arms into the exosuit arms. When he clenched his fist, the metal mesh fingers contracted with his, and the metal frame closed around his arm, shortening so the metal joints aligned with his elbows and shoulders. Then Blackburn reached back and pulled up the metal neck of the exosuit, hooking the prong on the end of the neck into the access port of his own neck. Immediately, the rest of the exosuit mimicked the actions of the arms, contracting to fit around his body, the joints of the exoskeleton lining up with his joints. Soon, Blackburn was wearing what resembled a metal mesh frame from neck to toe.

“Right now I have forty-two times an average man’s strength.” Blackburn held his arms out to the sides, displaying the way the thin metal even encased his fingertips. “Give me a pair of goggles with infrared and night vision; some high-density steel armor with fiber-optic cloaking capability to render me invisible; maybe a ceramic, medicine-secreting vest to clot up and heal any wounds I receive; some built-in air-conditioning to regulate my body temperature; a few mechanized drones to be my scouts; some overhead satellites to be my eyes and ears; a couple rocket launchers for my arms; a distant carrier ready to launch cruise missiles at my command, and . . . well, kids, give me all that, and I become a supersoldier, the decision maker at the center of a vast nexus of automated weapons and armaments. Theoretically, one supersoldier could travel back in time and obliterate the entire Third Reich. This is the future of warfare. Now”—his gray eyes roved over them—“what is the most important thing to remember when you’re wearing these?” His gaze snapped over to Vik. “Ashwan. Guess.”

Vik blinked. “Is this the your-time-is-infinitely-valuable thing again?”

“That was rule one, Ashwan. This is rule number two.” And then Blackburn grabbed Vik in one swift movement and hoisted him over his head, causing Vik to give a startled yelp. Then, to Tom’s shock, Blackburn hurled Vik up into the air a good twenty meters.

Tom’s heart leaped as Vik’s kicking body sailed toward the ceiling and plummeted back down. Blackburn caught him easily and set him gently back on his feet.

“Care to guess now, Ashwan? What is the next rule we are going to discuss?”

“The s-strength.” Vik raised his wide eyes up toward the ceiling.