As the days passed, Tom spent his days following the training program, and doing his own research on nanotech. He knew that his Internet was monitored, and that someone might be able to see whatever he sees on his visor, so he decided to see how far he could push it.

He started with reading the Wikipedia page on Nanotechnology, following the links and reading one or two pages per day. No one said anything about it to him. In the next week, if he saw a word that he'd also seen in the manual he had, he would click the link to that article. No one said anything about it to him. Then he started clicking the links to the scientific papers. No one said anything about it to him.

In fact, no one said anything at all about the fling with Jerry, the manual that Tom wasn't sure if he should have, or the reading of the scientific papers online. The only thing that might have indicated something was that Mr. Driedger said that it was good that Tom was "taking an interest in his own well-being".

One day, when Tom went for his usual training with Sgt. Sweet, Mr. Dreidger was there too. "Tom, the Sergeant says you're ready for open water training."

"Oh, what does that mean?" asked Tom.

"You're going to be living in a cabin by the ocean for a while, so you can learn on actual outdoor conditions. Sergeant Sweet will also be there. We'll let you know when everything is set up."

It was a bit disconcerting for Tom to hear that. Besides the additional difficulty of learning outdoors, there was the worry about whether that manual that he wasn't sure he was supposed to have, would be spotted during the move. Also, cabin, does that mean no electricity, no running water, no computer?

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Tom got an email a week after that. Since Tom had a computer now, he had been set up with an e-mail address to keep informed.

-Tom wouldn't know exactly where the cabin was, but the military would take care of transportation.

-The length of time spent there depended on how well the training went, and the plan was to go back to the hotel eventually.

-The cabin had electricity and running water, so it wasn't that rustic.

-Tom could go to the supply room to get any supplies he still needed before going. It would be unlocked for him until his trip.

Tom was excited about going to the storage room again, so he decided to check it out again. It unlocked at his presence. The first thing Tom got was a large camo backpack with with lots of pockets. He figured he could put the manual in there with his other books, and take the whole thing on the trip.

Since he wasn't sure how cold it would be when he wasn't diving, he went over to the jackets, and got a camo jacket and pants.

Tom's suit had soft feet soles, so he got some rubber boots that could fit over his suit.

Over in the diving section, he looked at diving fins. That seemed useful, so he got some of those too.

Then he looked at the drysuits. He though "It sure would be nice to bring one of those, but my rebreather tanks are attached, and I don't know if they'd fit inside. Also there's the issue of whether my visor would fit through the neck seal while I put it on. Ah well... Is that it for things I should bring?"