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“We had a teao into the mine, down to the depths where ASO-One penetrated Down to where the creature lived”
“The gaiaphage,” Dekka said, and sed hard after the word The gaiaphage, that seething, inhu finally in the birth of the monstrous child Gaia
“Yes, the gaiaphage,” Peaks said “The unholy mix of alien meteorite, uranium, and human DNA We sent a team of six One of the women on that team went mad and attacked her fellow team members with a pickax She killed two, injured two more They had to beat her doith sticks and stones She’s a patient here, as amad A complete psychotic break”
Dekka sat, silent
“So we sent a second team, this time with two armed Marines The Marines killed the team, and then themselves”
“Jesus”
“So we sent robots, modified bomb-disposal robots, and ere able to retrieve sae Just rock now, or so we thought Dead Inert Then we tried a sample on test animals, chimpanzees One of the chimps tore the face off her handler And one of the chimpsWait, I have the video”
He tapped his keyboard and turned his monitor for Dekka to see There was no sound, just video, showing a chie, and suddenlythe chie
“Teleportation Taylor’s power,” Dekka said
“We had to kill the chimps”
Dekka snorted “So you went looking for a better test subject, a better chimp: me”
“We need to understand e are dealing with,” Peaks said “Whatever is down in that mine shaft still wields some kind of power Decent people flee Perdido Beach Criminals and lowlifes are drawn to it The robots found beer bottles and cigarette butts in that cave People have been in there, people we don’t know, people ere drawn there”
“Why don’t you seal off the town?” Dekka demanded
“And let the whole world knoe have aout in the desert a fewto terht-years away in space People aren’t even close to accepting the fact that our entire world, the very laws of physics, are really no more secure than computer software”
“People live their lives,” Dekka said with a shrug “They coister at Safeway and buy their o home to their spouses and kids and jobs”