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Crouching slightly, Low commenced a slow advance, one hand extended palm-up in
front of him.
"Come on, now, Ludger. Hand them over."
"No." Brink's heels hung over emptiness.
"We just want our half. You can smother yourself with the rest, for all I
care." He was very close now, and still the scientist showed no sign of
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moving.
When he had approached to within arm's length, Low reached for the glow of an
overflowing pocket.As he did so, Brink convulsed and tried to dart past. Low
grabbed, and the other man swung with surprising force. The Commander ducked
and pulled, dragging both of them to the floor.
Rabid, maniacal energy drove the scientist's swings, but he was wild and
undisciplined. Brilliant as he was, he had no idea how to fight. It still
required all of Low's strength to ward off the mad flurry of blows, so much so
that he was unable to land a single solid punch of his own.
He finally managed to roll clear, using his legs to kick free of the
tumultuous embrace. Life crystals spilled from Brink's pockets, littering the
floor with emerald magic.
"No!"The scientist scrambled to his feet, staggered, and put his right foot
down on emptiness. Robbins
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screamed as Brink went over backward, disappearing from view. Several seconds
later they heard the heavy, sickening, inevitable thump.
They rushed to the edge. Their companion's crumpled, bent body lay directly
below the drop. Blood spread out beneath the twisted corpse to form a dark
oval frame. In falling, Brink's head had struck the edge of a pyramidal
projection. Not only was his neck broken, the skull had been shattered. Bits
and pieces of brain and bone lay everywhere.
"Didn't mean to do that," Low muttered tersely."Didn't mean for that to
happen."
Robbins put a hand on his shoulder. "He would have thrown you over if he
could."
"I know, but that wasn't the real Ludger Brink I was fighting with. Hanging
around all those crystals for so long did something to him.Altered his
personality." He eyed the softly glowing shards warily. "We'd better watch out
they don't start to act on us as well.
"I don't think there's much chance of reviving him with a crystal. The
important parts are in too many pieces." His eyes met hers. "It's done and
there's nothing we can do about it. At least now maybe he's at peace." He
indicated the scattered shards. "We might as well pick these up and use them
the way we planned."
CHAPTER 21
The transport sphere returned them to the fifth islet. As before, a single
life crystal reactivated the entire complex as well as raising the Eye above
the mountains of the central island.
Averting their eyes from the fantastic beam, they focused their attention on
the unprepossessing slot in the side of the primary mechanism.
"Ready?" Low held a second crystal above the opening.
"Why not?"She smiled. "What's the worst thing that could happen?"
"This whole island could blow sky-high and there'd be no one around to revive
us."
"If the whole island goes, then we'll end up in more pieces than poor Ludger.
At least if that happens we won't have to worry any longer about finding food
or returning home."
Gazing back into the expressive, open face he had come to know so well, he
debated whether or not to kiss her. Not the right moment, he decided. He chose
not to consider the possibility that there might never be any more moments as
he fed the next crystal into the waiting slot.
Consequences manifested themselves immediately. The beam deepened in color and
intensity as a subtle
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vibration passed through the floor. Lips compressed tightly, Low continued to
feed life crystals into the mechanism at sixty-second intervals.
Could the device be overloaded, he found himself wondering? From their
position alongside the central mechanism they couldn't see the central island.
He passed the remaining crystals to an attentive Robbins.
"Keep dropping them in. I need to see what effect this is having on the
nexus."
"All right."She resumed fueling the machine as she watched him make his way to
the gap in the wall.
He kept his head low and his eyes three-quarters shut and averted as he passed
beneath the beam.
Considering its strength, he thought it remarkable that he felt no heat or
vibration. What would happen if he stuck his hand into it? Would the Eye fall
and shatter? Would it swerve and tremble? Or would his hand simply
disintegrate like wheat straw in a furnace? He decided against performing the
experiment.
Robbins called out to him as she dropped another crystal into the slot. "See
anything?"
Standing in the opening beneath the beam, Low shouted back over his shoulder.
"Everything looks the same to me! Maybe the bubble effect enveloping the lens
is slightly more solid! It's hard to say. Might just be a disturbance in the
atmosphere. You still loading crystals?"
"Every minute," she yelled back. "Why don't we just dump them all in at once?"
He turned to peer back into the chamber. "Maggie, I'm not sure that's such a
good "
He never finished the sentence. The concussion was deafening. It blew him off
his feet and out through the gap. He landed hard on the rocks outside,
bruising his face and arms.
Rolling over, he caught his breath before climbing to his feet and stumbling
back toward the gap. Lights danced before his eyes and he couldn't hear a
thing. Overhead, the beam had turned a deep purple that appeared solid as
steel, but he wasn't interested in the beam anymore.
"Maggie!" He fell to his knees, cursing his recalcitrant legs, and forced
himself erect again. "Maggie, talk to me!" Dazed and bleeding, he staggered
into the chamber. "Where the hell are you? What happened?"
There was no reply.
Not far from the base of the primary mechanism, which appeared undamaged, he
found her lying facedown on the floor. A glance revealed that the feeder slot
had sealed itself shut. Sated, he decided, just like a carnivore after a big
feed. As his hearing began to return, his ears rang as if he'd just finished a
year as chief apprentice bell-ringer to Quasimodo himself. He turned her over.
Her eyes were closed.
Too stunned to cry, he slipped his arms beneath her and carried her back to
the gap in the wall. She'd been so tough, so enduring, that the lightness of
her body surprised him. Laying her down gently just inside the opening, he
cradled her head in his hand and raised it so that she could see. Her eyes
fluttered open. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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