He used the heel of his hand, in an atemi meant to splinter the nose cartilage, send it directly into the brain. He fell on him, knowing he had only moments in which to kill him before his superior psyche reasserted itself. The Messulethe staggered, his grip on Nicholas broken, and Nicholas was up, kicking him a glancing blow. Kept him going in this cold crucible where machines created more machines, where the miracle of creation in a manner inconceivable even decades ago was occurring every minute of the day and night. Infra-red-lensed eyes stared unblinking as the running shadows struck them and were gone. The terror running through her, but she kept him at it, out across the ferro-concrete beehive of the robotics factory with its spinning blue lightning arcs, its scents of hot metal and fused plastics, the presence in her mind growing stronger, seeking to fill her limbs with lead, as they stumbled past lines of stainless-steel heads being fitted onto blocky inhuman shoulders. Once, Nicholas fell heavily, bringing them both down, and Celeste cried out, blood on her palms as she skidded, feeling the creeping along her nerves of not only what had been done to him, but what was coming after them, the heat through the vivid electric discharges, billowing along the reinforced concrete floor, a low mist with form and substance, the lethal rhythms of the Messulethe reaching out for them.īut, with a.heavy grunt, she hauled him to his feet, propelled him on, and kept him at it, with that thing so near her mind she could feel it singe her like a bright leap of flame. At the same time, he delivered a vicious kite meant for Nicholas's kidneys.ĭown! The voice in her head confused her. The Messulethe moved with astonishing speed, twisting his torso into the attack so as to negate the unnatural position of his arm. They were in a corridor and, up ahead, she could see a set of stainless-steel doors, which he hit full tilt, using his shoulder and his momentum to slam them open.Ĭrack like a bolt of thunder and she whimpered, the percussion shaking the floor, and then Nicholas was dragging her to her feet and, as she was pulled past a section of wall, she stared wide-eyed at the ovoid indentation in it, as if it had been struck by a gigantic fist. He hauled her round the end of the wall, and the light dimmed. Nicholas was certain he had that resolve in him, the conviction that this soul must be dispatched, that there was no other option available, that without this singular attack his risk was intolerable. Had Nicholas killed him? She hurried them on. Celeste looked back, terrified, but the Messulethe was still lying on the ground. She wrapped her arm around his waist, and together they loped awkwardly away from the cage. Nicholas stumbled, fell to one knee, almost in Celeste's Up. "Nicholas!" She shook him and he groaned, his forehead coming up off the steering wheel, his fingers resuming their work on the wiring.Ī fusillade of needles scourged his mind as the Messulethe, recovering with appalling rapidity, lashed out with his psyche, trying to keep Nicholas from leaving the cage. She was aware of him, of his body spread over hers, and of a great heat like a concentrated beam running along the backs of her legs where they were exposed. Still, she had thought she would pass out the first time she saw his eyes staring at her from out of that face she had learned to fear above all others.Īnd Nicholas struck her a swift blow behind her knees so that she went down in an instant. It was eerie seeing the face of the Mes-sulethe, knowing because she was linked with it that Nicholas's mind lay beneath it. She felt the onset of the heat, rushing up the ramp at them, and she screamed wordlessly, her terror an anodyne for her nausea. At the edge of her mind was that awful sensation, as if some beast were snuffling obscenely through her innermost thoughts. Kneed in the stomach, he tried to twist away, and caught another kite on the jaw.Ĭeleste looked up, shivering. His own head snapped back, but he was already caught ill the vise-like grip of the Messulethe's powerful legs. The engine barked to life and Nicholas slumped back in the seat, near exhaustion. His fingers dosed around a broken chair leg and he smashed it into the side of the Messulethe's head just above his ear. Nicholas felt the tendons being strained beyond tolerance, and his left hand scrabbled under his body. He slumped back, and the Messulethe, on one knee, stamped at his armpit, extending his arm out, twisting it.
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