The Lotus Eaters

Headquarters, 7th Legion, Gutierrez Caserne, Ciudad Cervantes, Balboa, Terra Nova

Pigna replaced the telephone back onto the receiver atop his desk. The receiver sat next to a large scale map of Balboa City. On the other side of it was a small portable computer, one of two computers on the desk.

Being the commander of a reserve unit, Pigna mused, may not be an all day job, but it is an every day job. Worse, it seems like the decisions I get asked for are the most trivial imaginable. I'd rather be commander of a regular tercio than of a legion of reservists.

On the plus side, though, it leaves me with a lot of free time. And since I have to do all the detailed planning for this myself . . .

Pigna returned to the spreadsheet displayed on his computer screen. Using the control device two worlds had called "mouse" he selected a unit from one column, cut it from there, and pasted it beside another column. Thus was Second Cohort, Forty-Seventh Artillery Tercio tasked with securing the Bridge of the Colombias over the Transitway. Beside that entry, Pigna typed, "Self mobile by prime movers and auxiliary engines on the guns from Fort Cameron to the Bridge."

Pigna turned his attention back to the map. Again, he selected a unit . . .