Travis could perceive the cherry glow of the micro-rocket launcher on his shoulder with his IR vision.

"Everybody OK?" he asked. Nodded affirmatives from the vets, a shaky smile from Stef. "Good."

He moved to inspect the remains of the robot. It carried the logo of a Brazilian armaments corporation. Probably black market. Suddenly he heard the sound of running feet. Bill-boy burst from the undergrowth.

"Enemy patrol, sarge. Think they're annoyed you woke them up. Were camped up ahead." He looked at the auto-sniper. Travis knew they were thinking the same thing.

"Perimeter guard," he said. "Come on, we'd better get out of here."

Snatching up their gear they loped off into the night. Travis could almost feel the Sandinista platoon bearing down on them.

3.Camping out.

Probing fingers of light, flecked with dust, touched the undergrowth where the sun broke through the green canopy overhead. Something small scuttled over his face and he brushed it away. It was too small to register on the pressure pads of his artificial fingers.

He sat up. Half of the Greens lay sprawled where they had thrown themselves. They were all tired from eluding the patrol the previous evening.

Travis checked his arm. From his belt he took out a set of tools. He made some field repairs. The arm wasn't badly damaged. He soon had it working.

Bill-boy, who was sentry, looked at him and winked. Travis got up and rummaged in his pack. Time for his pills.

First he took Bio-lok(TM) for his arm, a drug to suppress his immune system's natural urge to reject the complex neural linkages that enabled him to control an arm of teflon, kevlar and fibre-optic nerves. Next a neurotransmitter enhancer which enabled the protein based computer at the top of his spine to take orders from his brain and transmit them to his limbs. Finally some vitamin tablets. Just to keep him fit and healthy. The first two were the chains the CIA used to bind him, keep him coming back.

Without the drugs he would be a cripple.

His preparations had disturbed the Greens who came awake instantly and quietly around him. It astonished him that they could do that. Go from being completely at rest to combat readiness in a moment. Still it was only part of the design that made them into what the Pentagon believed was the soldier of the future.

He reviewed the facts; grown by accelerated cell division in culture vats, educated by neural induction helmet. They had stomach bacteria modified to enable them to digest cellulose, live off the land.