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.“Warning,” an automated voice echoed through the corridor.“Unauthorized weapons discharge detected on level fourteen, section twelve.Warning.”“Shit,” Stoakes hissed.He scanned ahead for his target, saw that she had paused but then continued on her way.He put the Yellow Diamond Spectacles away, and with his left hand still firmly pressed to his stomach, he bolted down the corridor.Still some ways on, crew members entered the corridor from several different access doors.He could hear other doors opening behind him as well.No matter.He stuck as close to the left wall as possible and at his maximum range, sent the phantom blade of his Longsword Knife into the already feeble overhead lighting, casting that section of corridor in total darkness and effectively blinding his opponents but not himself.He carved through everyone in his path before any of them could get off a single, errant shot.Stoakes was worried but didn’t know why.He felt like he was racing the echo to the bridge, but why should he feel that way? What could she do there that would change anything? He tried to shrug off the feeling and just concentrate on what he had to do.For the time being, he encountered no more of the crew.Besides those investigating the weapons discharge, many would now be occupied with the inexplicable scenes of carnage.Paranoia would spread and run its course before they could start a methodical search.And they were in the middle of a war.He needed to climb several levels before continuing towards the bridge.He found a service ladder, used it, and sailed down the corridor, destroying the overhead lights as a precaution as he went.He took advantage of the current straight run to double check the echo’s position with the Spectacles.He was gaining on her and would in fact reach her before she reached the bridge, but just barely.He turned down a corridor to his right, climbed another ladder to the next level and steadied himself for his imminent encounter with the echo.And there she was.She was the first of them that looked as though she could put up a a real fight.He supposed that Mai Pardine might have been able to, and there were probably others in the past as well, but Stoakes knew nothing of them.The woman was perhaps fifty meters from the pressure door leading to the bridge.Stoakes stalked silently behind her, drawing closer and closer until the woman stopped.A vibration had shot through the ship.Stoakes felt it under his feet and could see the metal wall, the floor, the ceiling vibrating down to stillness.Scilia Moro, whose name Stoakes would never know, cocked her head uneasily and dropped her hand to her hip and the waiting pistol.Stoakes slowed, crept more quietly, but continued forward, trying to ignore any significance that vibration might have had.He swallowed hard and wondered at his delicate nerves.What made this situation—this echo—any more dangerous than the fifty or so others that preceded her? It wasn’t her gun, though he was sure she could use it.And use it she did.With a speed that surprised Stoakes, the woman whirled, leveled her gun with practiced ease, and fired.He felt his right cheek split and erupt fire, but he kicked forward, jamming out a Longsword Knife thrust, that despite his momentarily obscured vision, found its target unerringly.A blade of compressed air shot with a bass thump, passing between her gripping fingers, severing the handle of her pistol, and slicing cleanly out the back of her right hand.“Warning.Unauthorized weapons discharge detected at bridge access one.Warning.”“Warning.Unauthorized presence on the bridge.This is a security alert.All available hands to the bridge.Warning.”Stoakes cocked his head at the competing announcements.Playing over each other, they didn’t seem to be for the same thing.The gun fell in two pieces to the floor as she snatched up her wounded hand, clutching it to her breast.Panic flashed in her eyes.She turned and ran for the bridge.Stoakes touched ground and kicked off again, significantly closing the gap between them.She reached the pressure door, calmed herself to work the code with her left hand, and found herself in an unbreakable embrace just as the door was about to slide open.Oily black smoke covered her mouth to prevent her from crying out.“I’m sorry,” Stoakes whispered in her ear from behind.He took moments to steady them both then put the chisel point of the Suicide Knife to her temple before pushing it home.He freed the blade, releasing a fine red spray, like a spritz of hot perfume.Gingerly, and with a degree of care that had been building over the years, he eased her down into a comfortable sitting position against the corridor wall.He gently placed her hands in her lap, and fumbled for a moment, wanting to do more for her, but of course there was nothing to be done [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]