[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Lara turned, stepping in front of Jess and moving quickly back the way they'd come. She could hear
Jess's ragged breathing behind her as she jumped a huddle of stocky plants, and from farther back, the
rip-ping sound of Noguchi's burner as it fired again.
Back to that ship, maybe the damage isn't so bad and we can
To Lara's left, a bug lunged out from behind a stand of trees, grinning and hissing, its clawed hands
snatch-ing. Lara stumbled as she brought the awkward rifle around, fumbling for the trigger
andbrrrp-BOOM, a bolt of lightning tore through the air from behind her, from Jess's weapon, melting
through the alien's spindly body, its left side disappear-ing in a liquid splash.
They didn't have time to stop, to regroup; if they didn't get out of the designated no-man's-land, the
drones would keep coming. Lara glanced back, saw that Jess was on his feet, and sprinted ahead. She
had no doubt that Noguchi was still bringing up the rear, not with how fast she'd wasted those first two
"Stop!" Noguchi hissed, and Lara stumbled to a halt, every muscle in her body telling her to run, her
soldier's mind obeying the voice of command and a strange smell washed over her, like some rotting,
oily fruit.
"Toward the station, go!" Noguchi said.
Lara turned right and saw Jess already a step ahead. Together they ran toward the glow of the fire, and
it occurred to Lara that in a matter of minutes, they had accepted the unusual woman as their
leader and maybe as their only real chance to get off of Bunda alive.
The shuttle had landed on its side at an angle, the few things that had been aboard spilling out of the
open hatch including Keene's body, his dark suit smeared
with the contents of a few food packets, a spongy chunk of soypro actually stuck to one of his glazed,
bulging eyes. Only his upper half was outside, his chest crushed between the doorframe and the ground,
gluts of drying blood coming from every visible orifice. Ellis barely noticed, interested only in Max's
condition as he crawled over the corpse's legs, searching the shadows beneath the webbed cots that
hung down from what was now the ceiling. He stood up in the stilling dark, everything that had happened
in the past hours jum-bling together, focusing his energy on the joining to come.
They need us now, they need what we can do.
There had been a terrible crash, an alien ship twice as big as theNemesis plowing through the trees,
almost hitting Lara and Jess. Ellis had just reached the shuttle, their crashed transport close enough to the
fire that one side was smoking, when he'd seen the ship come down. He'd had to run back, to make sure
they hadn't been killed. A glimpse through the trees, the two of them standing in front of the ship, and the
relief that had flowed through him had been incredible not just because they were still alive, but because
he still had a real reason to interface again with Max. As long as they were alive on this dangerous planet,
they needed what he and Max had to offer.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
It's who I am now. I thought I was sick, I thought the numbers and nonfeelings were a sickness, but they
weren't. They aren't.
"They're us," Ellis breathed, talking to the thicken-ing of shadow in the back of the transport. His glasses
had been lost, he couldn't remember when, but it was okay. Max would see for them both.
He felt his way through the dark, falling to his knees and crawling when he tripped over something,
reaching out to touch Max. The heated air made the metal warm, as though Max had been waiting,
warm-ing its empty guts for Ellis to slip inside.
Max was on its left side, its rifle arm pinned be-
neath its giant torso. Ellis crawled over the metal body, feeling for the circuit hatch set at the lower back.
He found it and found the controls that would ready Max, his hands knowing what to do even without the
years of training in hydraulic chem or the Company course; this was Max, as much a part of him now as
he was of it. He stroked the chords that would sing it to life, grin-ning with excitement as he turned on the
vocal trans-mit option, no headsets here,and they'll hear my voice, mine, speaking for us as we lead
them to safety . . .
Next, the release on its back panel. With a silent plea, Ellis twisted the lock for the cavity.
Yes!It hadn't been jammed. Metal slid against metal, the hatch rising, stopping short of its full length
when it hit the back wall. There was just enough room for him to slip inside.
Ellis wormed his way into the suit, wishing ab-sently that he'd thought to look over Max's condition when
they'd still been drifting in the void. Before they'd joined on the station, he'd only had a moment to make
adjustments resetting the interface arm at the back of the head, switching off the IV pumps and
monitors, doing all he could so that they could work together without a comp-synth implant. Toward the
end of their time together, when his body had started to
die [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl freetocraft.keep.pl
Lara turned, stepping in front of Jess and moving quickly back the way they'd come. She could hear
Jess's ragged breathing behind her as she jumped a huddle of stocky plants, and from farther back, the
rip-ping sound of Noguchi's burner as it fired again.
Back to that ship, maybe the damage isn't so bad and we can
To Lara's left, a bug lunged out from behind a stand of trees, grinning and hissing, its clawed hands
snatch-ing. Lara stumbled as she brought the awkward rifle around, fumbling for the trigger
andbrrrp-BOOM, a bolt of lightning tore through the air from behind her, from Jess's weapon, melting
through the alien's spindly body, its left side disappear-ing in a liquid splash.
They didn't have time to stop, to regroup; if they didn't get out of the designated no-man's-land, the
drones would keep coming. Lara glanced back, saw that Jess was on his feet, and sprinted ahead. She
had no doubt that Noguchi was still bringing up the rear, not with how fast she'd wasted those first two
"Stop!" Noguchi hissed, and Lara stumbled to a halt, every muscle in her body telling her to run, her
soldier's mind obeying the voice of command and a strange smell washed over her, like some rotting,
oily fruit.
"Toward the station, go!" Noguchi said.
Lara turned right and saw Jess already a step ahead. Together they ran toward the glow of the fire, and
it occurred to Lara that in a matter of minutes, they had accepted the unusual woman as their
leader and maybe as their only real chance to get off of Bunda alive.
The shuttle had landed on its side at an angle, the few things that had been aboard spilling out of the
open hatch including Keene's body, his dark suit smeared
with the contents of a few food packets, a spongy chunk of soypro actually stuck to one of his glazed,
bulging eyes. Only his upper half was outside, his chest crushed between the doorframe and the ground,
gluts of drying blood coming from every visible orifice. Ellis barely noticed, interested only in Max's
condition as he crawled over the corpse's legs, searching the shadows beneath the webbed cots that
hung down from what was now the ceiling. He stood up in the stilling dark, everything that had happened
in the past hours jum-bling together, focusing his energy on the joining to come.
They need us now, they need what we can do.
There had been a terrible crash, an alien ship twice as big as theNemesis plowing through the trees,
almost hitting Lara and Jess. Ellis had just reached the shuttle, their crashed transport close enough to the
fire that one side was smoking, when he'd seen the ship come down. He'd had to run back, to make sure
they hadn't been killed. A glimpse through the trees, the two of them standing in front of the ship, and the
relief that had flowed through him had been incredible not just because they were still alive, but because
he still had a real reason to interface again with Max. As long as they were alive on this dangerous planet,
they needed what he and Max had to offer.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
It's who I am now. I thought I was sick, I thought the numbers and nonfeelings were a sickness, but they
weren't. They aren't.
"They're us," Ellis breathed, talking to the thicken-ing of shadow in the back of the transport. His glasses
had been lost, he couldn't remember when, but it was okay. Max would see for them both.
He felt his way through the dark, falling to his knees and crawling when he tripped over something,
reaching out to touch Max. The heated air made the metal warm, as though Max had been waiting,
warm-ing its empty guts for Ellis to slip inside.
Max was on its left side, its rifle arm pinned be-
neath its giant torso. Ellis crawled over the metal body, feeling for the circuit hatch set at the lower back.
He found it and found the controls that would ready Max, his hands knowing what to do even without the
years of training in hydraulic chem or the Company course; this was Max, as much a part of him now as
he was of it. He stroked the chords that would sing it to life, grin-ning with excitement as he turned on the
vocal trans-mit option, no headsets here,and they'll hear my voice, mine, speaking for us as we lead
them to safety . . .
Next, the release on its back panel. With a silent plea, Ellis twisted the lock for the cavity.
Yes!It hadn't been jammed. Metal slid against metal, the hatch rising, stopping short of its full length
when it hit the back wall. There was just enough room for him to slip inside.
Ellis wormed his way into the suit, wishing ab-sently that he'd thought to look over Max's condition when
they'd still been drifting in the void. Before they'd joined on the station, he'd only had a moment to make
adjustments resetting the interface arm at the back of the head, switching off the IV pumps and
monitors, doing all he could so that they could work together without a comp-synth implant. Toward the
end of their time together, when his body had started to
die [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]