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Russell reun fro his wrath down upon this ghost--

He felt strong hands grab his ankles, and yank Hard At the sa hit hiun as his hands instinctively shot out to brace his fall Too slow His chin cracked on the tile floor

He caught a brief gliuard also lay on his sto on his lips as he disappeared into an open vent behind

Russell rolled onto his back as he felt hilimpse of blond hair in the darkness in front of hier

Chapter Forty-five

Gateway Station

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The bulletshot, and dah," Russell said "The next one is through your eye"

The worip relaxed

Over his shoulder he yelled, "You too, or your friend here dies!" The commotion behind him ended abruptly

Russell scooted out from the ventilation shaft and rose to one knee "Hands where I can see them," he said "Now! Both of you!"

A pair of hands protruded frouard who had waited with Russell, and perfor job, crawled away fro and stood, soun trained on the blonde He looked at the dazed guard and jerked his head toward the other vent The un, and pointed it at the opening

"Let’s come out of there," Russell said "Take your sweet tied fronition did not take long

"Wehis neck to face her "Hardly recognized you with your clothes on"

She stared back at hie, and kept her mouth shut

"Who’s your friend?" He reached out and removed a pistol from her belt, then tossed it down the hallway "Disaruard

"My name is Kelly Adelaide," the other woman said

Her voice had a flippant tone that Russell hated the instant he heard it He fought the urge to shoot her right then

A sound caught his attention: the sound of running uards joined hihosts, Captain," Russell said

"Nicely done" He breathed hard from the run "What are your orders? Shall I take theh Russell at the word orders Maybe Larsen would fall in line after all "We all know that’s not good enough," he said "I’ll bring thehtcliff hospitality"

Aboard his climber, Russell made sure the woer, perhaps--they looked like a pair of mummies

Natalie sat alone by the far wall, strapped into a seat, as far away from the prisoners as possible Her face bore a look of revulsion Russell thought about chastising her for that, but he still had work to do

He floated up to the second-level compartment, where the clihtcliff’s control room

"Put Osmak on the line," he said to the person who answered "I’ll wait Be quick about it"

"Quick" left a lot to interpretation, he realized as he sat waiting A few minutes passed before he finally felt the clian to propel itself along the Elevator cord

Earthbound An expedition to Africa He srass, arrin on his face Zane Platz, the buht sun and staring straight into the un

"Osmak," came a voice from the terminal

Russell had watched the felloith so operation As long as it didn’t get too ambitious, everyone could benefit in their oay That is, until two days ago Russell let the haoes the planning?"

When they’d talked the day before, Russell had given specific, ambitious orders, under threat of torturous death: "Find me ten aircraft, at least, that can travel as far as Africa with o," he had said "Environment suits for fifty men Survival supplies for a few days" He told Kip that he didn’t care whoet it done," he had told him

Kip Osmak cleared his throat loudly "We’ll be ready, Mr Blackfield"

"Excellent"

"You, u since the raid I’m not sure how to--"

"There’s no tih planes" Planes, and a to earn Russell’s favor for months Time to see just how deep his a Anchor Station

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Spaceflight, Skyler discovered, was not very exciting

After leaving Gateway he drifted a few hundred ned himself with the Elevator cord, and fired the thrusters until he’d reached a decent cruising speed His gut wanted to push the little ship faster, but he knew he’d need fuel to slon at the other end, and he didn’t want to risk overshooting the station and spending the rest of his life drifting out into space A life that would last a week, according to the readout that showed his air supply status

He ht, in order to avoid a collision with the roups at various intervals along the cord He’d even slept a bit, and combined with the rations he found below the seat, he felt refreshed and alert when Anchor Station finally loomed ahead He turned around and decelerated

The state of affairs within the station was a total mystery Blackfield had left, thatthe trip, he had debated rehtcliff uniform, in case the local station staff was back in control He nixed the idea when he realized he had nothing else to wear Wrinkling his nose, Skyler realized clean clothes should be near the top of his list once inside

Feeling more confident with the controls of the tiny ship, he used thethrusters to push out farther fros The s at the aps between the center ring and those above and below it, and he quickly realized why

The Darwin Elevator ended here Surrounded by the slowly rotating central ring of the station, he could see, were the remnants of the Builders’ ship, at the very tip He’d seen pictures, everyone had, but the sight still awed him