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She drifted slowly toward the surface, very little of the built-up pressure inside her suit, no quick ride to the top Another throat spas dizzy, would soon pass out

Juliette fumbled for the clasps on her rave; vu was overpowering Only this ti clearly She re out of the dark walk-in She re her chest, she felt the handle sticking out froled out of their pockets; they dangled fro lost, lines that now justher down

She rose gently up the stairwell, her body shivering fro fro all reason, all sense of where she was, she beca all around her head, trapped by that do her She aimed the blade into the first latch in her collar and pressed hard

There was a click and a fine spray of cold water against her neck A feeble bubble lurched out of her suit and tu for the other latch, she shoved the knife into it, and the hel her suit, shocking her with the nu, back down to where she’d co cold jolted Juliette to her senses She blinked her lids against the sting of the green water and saw the knife in her hands, the doh thedirection She was slowly sinking after it, no air in her lungs, hundreds of feet of water pressing down

She jabbed the knife into the wrong pocket on her chest, saw drivers and spanners hanging by their cords froh the blackness, and kicked toward the hose that still led through four levels of water toward the surface

Bubbles of air leaked out of her collar and across her neck, up through her hair Juliette seized the hose and stopped her plu for an intake of air, of water, of anything The urge to sas overpowering She started to pull herself up, when she saw, in the undersides of the steps, a shi flash of hope

Trapped bubbles Maybe from her descent They moved like liquid solder in the hollow undersides of the spiral staircase

Juliette made a noise in her throat, a raw cry of desperation, of effort She pawed through the water, fighting the sinking of the suit, and grasped the railing of the sub off of the railing, she e of the stairs, and pushed her ht up to the asp of air and sucked in a lot of water in the process She dove her head below the surface and coughed into the water, which brought the burn of fluids invading her nose She nearly sucked in a lungful of water, felt her heart racing and ready to burst out of her chest, stuck her face back up against the wet rusty underside of the step, and with her lips pursed and treentle sip of air

The tiny flashes of light in her vision subsided She lowered her head and blew out, away fro the bubbles of her exhalation rise, and then pressed her face close for another taste

Air

She blinked away underwater tears of effort, of frustration, of relief Peering up the twistedlike flexible yrations, she saw a pathway like no other She kicked off and took a few steps at a tiaps between, drinking tiny bubbles of air out of the several-inch hollow beneath each tread, praising the tight welds where the diao The steps had been boxed in for strength, to handle the traffic of a aseous overflow froher salvation

• • • •

The green ehts all around her re past She just concentrated on taking five steps with each breath, six steps, a long stretch with hardly any air, another mouthful of water where the bubble was too thin to breathe, a lifeti tools, no thought for stopping and cutting things free, just kick and pull, hand over hand, up the undersides of the steps, a deep and steady pull of air, suck this shallow step dry, don’t exhale into the steps above, easy now Five ame, like Hop, five squares in a leap, don’t cheat,better

And then a foul burn on her lips, the taste of water growing toxic, her head coh a filas-stench and slihed, wiping at her face, her head still trapped below the next step She wheezed and laughed and pushed herself away, banging her head on the sharp steel edge of the stairs She was free She briefly bobbed below the surface as she swaas floating on top Splashing loudly, crying for Solo, sheknees, she finally found the steps

She’d asping and wheezing, her legs numb, she tried to cry out that she made it, but it escaped as a whi Her arms shivered as she pulled herself up the quiet steps, no rattle fro to assist her

"Solo--?"

She crawled the half dozen treads to the landing and rolled onto her back So at her where they were tied off to her pockets Water drained out of her suit and splashed down her neck, pooled by her head, ran into her ears She turned her head--she needed to get the freezing suit off--and found Solo

He was lying on his side, eyes shut, blood running down his face, some of it already caked dry

"Solo?"

Her hand was a shivering blur as she reached and shook him What had he done to hi She grabbed his shoulder and gave him a violent shake "Solo! I need help!"

One of his eyes parted a little He blinked a few ti by his face

"Help," she said She fu it was Solo who needed her

Solo coughed into his hand, then rolled over and settled once again to his back The blood on his head was still flowing fro across what had dried soroaned Juliette pulled herself closer, could barely feel her body He whispered soe of silence

"Hey--" She brought her face close to his, could feel her lips swollen and nuasoline

"Not hed aa few inches as if to cover histhere

"Not ain His head lolled side to side, and Juliette finally realized that he was badly injured Her h to see what state he was in

"Hold still," she groaned "Solo, I need you to be still"

She tried to push herself up, to will herself the strength to lassy, blood tinting the gray in his beard the color cri "My na up into the back of his head--