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sprawled deathly still. I couldn't bring myself to take a closer look. What
would be the point? Let her rest in peace.
So there I was: last man standing. Pelinor would say that made me the hero of
our quest; but I'd done nothing anyone would call heroic. The hard work came
from my friends the protecting, the dying. All I could do was ensure they
hadn't died in vain.
Element gun in one hand, -rod in the other, I approached the laser
cage.
The door of the airlock shack had one simple control a lever with three
positions marked INNER SHUT, BOTH SHUT, OUTER SHUT. It was currently set to
the last: outer door closed, inner one open. I moved the switch to the middle
and watched as the inner door slid into place. The imprisoned Lucifer had
withdrawn into the main area of the cage, taking Sebastian with it. I guessed
it didn't want to leave the boy in the airlock shack where he might be easier
to rescue.
Deep breath. I moved the lever again.
The outer door opened. I had my gun set to shoot flames, ready to scorch any
bits of Lucifer hiding in the airlock. But the shacklike space seemed
perfectly clean: white walls, white floor, white ceiling, where the tiniest
black grain would show up clearly. No doubt the airlock had cleansing devices
that sanitized the place every time the doors cycled. I didn't know how
decontamination was possible without killing any humans in the airlock... but
if the Keepers harvested lightbulbs from the Lucifer's mass, people must go in
and out through the shack all the time. One just had to trust that the Sparks
could eradicate alien cellules while leavingHomo sapiens intact.
I stepped into the airlock. The inside wall had a three-position lever like
the one outside. I moved the lever to both shut and waited.
A flat plane of green light rose from the floor, like a platform of jade
ascending around me. The surface was too glossy to see through, but I could
feel a tingle as it climbed my legs: like the brisk scraped sensation after
drying oneself with a rough towel. The feeling increased to wrenching pain as
it reached my abdomen an unknown force clawing my intestines, scouring deep in
search of alien intruders. Some part of my mind wondered what kind of energy
the light was, how it could distinguish between human flesh and alien
particles. But I didn't care that much. Like a man plodding the last hundred
meters of a marathon, I just wanted to get this over.
The jade surface rose. As it reached my heart, congestion squeezed my chest.
I tried to breathe normally; I closed my eyes and waited, feeling the tingle
flush up my throat, my face... then a burst of jade flared as it swept past my
retinas.
When I opened my eyes, the plane of light was vanishing into the airlock
roof. I caught my breath, lifted my weapons, and moved the control lever to
open the inner door.
The Lucifer didn't attack. It didn't even move. Its black powder mass sat
silent. Waiting.
"Release the boy," I said.
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No response. As if the creature didn't understand my words. But I was certain
it knew what I was saying.
I raised my gun. "Give me the boy or I'll hurt you. Kill you if that's
possible. Heaven knows why the Sparks kept you alive at all; but I'm sure
they'd rather see you dead than loose in the world. So let the boy go."
Still no motion visible in the black heap, but a rustling sound came from the
mound's dusty heart. The Lucifer towered above me, three times my height: like
the mountain of coal that was dumped behind the academy at the start of each
winter. My Element gun was no more than a pea-shooter compared to the
Lucifer's bulk; the gun's supply of fire and acid could only braise the
monster's surface. If the beast withstood the immediate pain, I'd soon run out
of ammunition. As for the glittering -rod, I didn't know how much mass
it could "roll aside" at any one time... but surely not the entire mound. I
might banish a few handfuls of black before I was overwhelmed, but that would
just delay the inevitable. Sebastian would remain trapped, the batteries
powering the cage would run dry...
"Give me the boy!" I shouted. Conserving my more effective attacks, I fired a
burst of bullets into the mound. Lightbulbs on the surface shattered into
sprays of chipped glass; but the Lucifer itself was unhurt.
Quickly, I switched the gun back to flamethrower. "I'm counting to five. Give
me the boy or I'll "
Something shifted within the mound. My nerves were so jittery, I almost
pulled the trigger... but I stopped myself on the minuscule chance the monster
might be letting Sebastian go.
The heap closest to me bulged with a human-shaped protuberance: head and
shoulders coated with gunpowder black, pushing their way out of the pile with
a dry rasp. Crusted in midnight grains, a figure struggled to wrench
free pushing, pulling, until it abruptly tugged loose from its surroundings
and stumbled forward, trying to catch its balance.
I kept my gun trained on the figure. "Don't come too close." If a thing
thatlooked like Sebastian materialized out of that mess, I'd be a fool to
believe it must be the real boy. Besides, the thing before me was still just a
humanoid clump of black, standing weak and wobbly, head turning back and forth
as if trying to get its bearings. Then the outermost layer of powder slumped
away to reveal...
Rosalind Tzekich. As naked as when I had seen her last, but with life and
health shining where there had only been the limpness of death.
The new Rosalind gave me a tranquil smile. Beatific. A much different look
from the listless way she'd endured math classes. The distance and loneliness
were gone now: she had the look of a prisoner who'd been released.
Reluctantly, I trained the Element gun on her hoping that wherever the real
Rosalind was now, she wore exactly the same kind of smile. "I've seen enough
fakes of this girl," I said. "Let her rest in peace."
The Rosalind-thing didn't answer. She held her arms out at her sides, hands
open, palms toward me: the pose of someone showing she was no threat, as if I
were a dog who had to be mollified. "Stop it," I said. "You're nothing more
than shapeshifting sand; a piece of Lucifer, trying to distract me. I want
Sebastian and I want him now. One... two... three...."
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She stepped toward me, still smiling. I cursed the Lucifer under my breath, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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