The Pure Cold Light by Gregory Frost

Author:Gregory Frost
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction novel
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Published: 2013-01-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen: Tunneling Out

The sound of the shot rebounded like hammer blows.

The non leaped sideways, landing on legs that no longer supported him, but the shots kept coming. He started to crumple, was hit again, the bullets ‘thwack-thwack-thwacking’ like rivets, jumping his body as if with current. The firing ceased but the echoes had not died out entirely when the non flopped over on his side. His outstretched arm clutched the gun as if in a salute. He lay still afterward.

Across the room to the right, one hulking bullgod stood in an open doorway. He, too, had one of the black weapons. Lyell recognized him as the one who had escorted her into ICS-IV. He moved awkwardly into the room. He limped, and his right heel left bloody imprints.

He waved the gun. “Toog it off my duty officer. Don’t even know where Tackler got it—same place as the nons, huh? Dead now, anyway.”

Lurching around the triangular desk, he all but fell into Chikako Peat’s chair, which squealed under him. He placed the gun on the desk and pushed it aside before making hesitant eye contact with Lyell. Then the bank of monitors caught his attention. “Real hell everywhere. Nobody knows who’s in the soup and who ain’t, so we’re taking out everybody what’s loose, and so are they. There’s all that gas, too.” He sneaked a shy glance at Lyell again. “You okay, though. That’s what counts.”

“We wouldn’t be, without you,” she agreed, having no idea what should be done with this gentle monster.

Peat stepped in. She asked, “Are you trained on the system? Can you work it until SC sends reinforcements? I…have to get these two people to safety.” The bullgod tried to stand, but Peat pushed him back in the chair. “You’ve saved her life. But you’re too hurt to keep up, and others might follow the same trail as he did.”

“That’s right,” Lyell agreed. She kept the desk between them, but touched his huge hand beside the gun. “You can protect us better from here.”

He flushed at her touch, which highlighted the white scars like erratic warpaint across his cheeks. Nervously, he shifted. “I know how to work this stuff, is simple.” He picked up the handset as if to show it off.

“You see? You are the right person to take charge,” Peat said, as though someone had argued otherwise. She leaned down, cupped his jowl, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered, and stared into his startled blue eyes.

“I never…nobody ever—”

“Hush,” she said. She squeezed the muscles beneath his collar. Then she joined Lyell, taking hold of Angel and helping him steer toward the exit.

Peat muttered, “With any luck, he might buy us a few extra minutes.”

“We’re going to need ’em all,” Lyell said, glancing remorsefully back at the bull. She waved a final time.

Angel looked from one to the other of the two women supporting him, and managed to ask, “What is going on?”

***

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