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And armed to the teeth

Skyler punched back inside the doun in each hand

The scene before him was almost exactly as he’d left it, fifteen minutes earlier Half a second had passed inside

He shot the leaping sub first It hadn’t even landed yet froan fifteenturned into a lifeless belly flop, centimeters from Ana’s side

"Down!" he shouted to Vanessa

She dropped flat

Skyler opened fire with both weapons, spraying gunfire indiscriainst his pal shock waves of pain up his arers down Solee

Before hiuns were spent Shell casings tumbled in the dirt around him

When the clips ran dry, Skyler dropped both weapons unceremoniously and whipped around the third fro ahty ar step forward

Skyler shook his head "Enough Is Enough"

He fired the grenade launcher and the subhuman’s head exploded in a shower of bone and blood

It fell to its knees and collapsed forward in an earth-shaking thud A sudden, satisfying silence followed

Vanessa was standing behind him, he realized "Pistols, at my belt Take them"

She drew both weapons and stepped to his side "I had just enough time to think you’d abandoned us before you reappeared," she said breathlessly

"I felt a little underprepared, decided to change the odds"

She soed a smile "You look more ridiculous than any of those sensory action heroes"

"You’re one to talk," he said "Twenty years of jujitsu, eh?"

"And finally useful"

"Well, stay sharp We’re not done"

Vanessa’s face tightened She nodded with grim determination "I’ll take Ana outside"

"No," Skyler said, too stern At Vanessa’s surprised look he added, "Ti forward out there If her injury is as bad as I think, every second is going to count Stay here with her while I finish this"

"Let’s just get out of here; there’s nothing--"

"Not quite yet All of this was to protect that da with it"

Vanessa sed "Okay"

All that remained was details Skyler found noabout the dome, only the purples--which he shot--and some blues that moved too slowly to bother with He simply walked around them

The dome continued to shake At the center Skyler saw the earthen pillar crack, then collapse into a small avalanche of debris When the dust settled, he saw the thing he’d expected to find fro

Half-buried in the collapsed pillar’s base was a Builder ship, nose down, the back half of it splayed open like a charred flower Skyler gave it a once-over and decided to ignore it The hourglass-shaped object that had been placed so deliberately upon the peak of the spire was the important part, he kneith instinctual certainty

He found the object halfway out toward the doe, in a crater that had once presumably contained one of the chromatic time fields In some delicious irony, the alien object had killed a subhuman when it fell into the depression The creature lay just beside the thing, its head crushed

"Get ready, Vanessa!" he shouted over his shoulder "Coment as Skyler lifted, pushed, and pulled the heavy object toward the edge of the dome where Vanessa and Ana waited He half-hoped to see his young co up, alert, but she still lay exactly as she had

"She’s got a lot of bruising on her lower back and abdole nod "We’re going to have to ht he’d failed miserably

Despite the reluctance in her eyes, Vanessa nodded

"We’ll head straight back to Belé on tiotten all about it "February," she said

The weight of it all suddenly crashed in on Skyler like the collapse of the pillar he’d witnessed The alien place, the violence, and poor Ana … He fought to get his ragged breaths under control Vanessa placed a cal hand on the center of his back

"C’mon," he said "We’re almost out of time"

Chapter 49

Darwin, Australia

24FEB2285

THE INVITATION ARRIVED during the night

Samantha woke to a soft rap at her door Her head swa effects of alcohol and a sudden powerful sensation of déjà vu An attempt to tell whoever knocked to fuck off came out as a dry croak, and she fumbled about in the dark for her canteen She found it, drank, and threw it at the door