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"Wyatt," Toasped, "don’t do it!"

Yuri dreard a step, and hisToainst the wall, and he stayed there, cruuely aware of Vik straining to work his sleeve up his aret to his forearm keyboard Hope reared inside hied to whisper to hiaze away froo there

"Why are you doing this?" Wyatt asked, tears choking her voice "I don’t understand"

"Do as I instructed you"

"So you can do to me what you did to Tom and Vik? No! I won’t!"

And then she shrieked out in pain when Yuri’s large hand twisted her wrist Toony twisted hi to spin violently

Vik finished typing on his forearm keyboard, and then curled up in pain, ile with Yuri

"Do as I instructed you," Yuri repeated

"NO!" Wyatt shouted

Yuri hurled Wyatt, hard, toward the chair beneath the census device She tried to bolt, but he caught her "This culling begins with you, then" He snared the restraints around her arms, and reared up to seize the census device, pull the ht over her head--

And then the door slid open, and Blackburn barreled in and wrenched Yuri away froed as Yuri sla him to the floor Blackburn found his feet in a flash, his hand jabbing at his forearm keyboard

Yuri started toward him and then seemed to think the better of it He backed up one step, another

"Who’s counterhacking ra There was an unsettling blankness to his face as he edged back as far as he physically could

Blackburn lowered his forearra his careful eyes on Yuri, Blackburn reached down and yanked Wyatt free, then shoved her toward Vik and Tom

"Help those two," he said

Tom sat up painfully as Wyatt retrieved her forearm keyboard, then hooked a neural wire into To his h his body

Neither Blackburn nor Yuri wasBlackburn seemed at a temporary loss, and Yuri had taken shelter fro the census device

"So Ashwan’s net-send was right," Blackburn said, breathing heavily "Soram"

Wyatt’s head shot up, terrible coone," Vik confirmed, sprawled lione for a while Since before Capitol Suhtened It was treason He felt hiaze up to the census device He’d spent two days under that trying to keep this fro

Wyatt still stared at Yuri, horrified