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Marta and the others were visibly struggling to access their own coding to no avail

"Mr Skale!" the old man shouted "I demand you remove this block i could block hi I’ you, I don’t!"

The darkness now took up half the viewing port, the approaching object obscuring the outside world For the first time since he could remember in the Sleep, Gunner had absolutely no idea what to do They couldn’t leave, he had no way to access defenses, his potential partners had turned against hi was about to crash into his ship

The others saw that he was just as upset as they were They gathered around hie s

All was black now No stars, no Saturn, no rings Just darkness As he stared, a spot of light appeared in thethat al speed There was a blur ofclap outside that rattled the ship

And then an enor toward theh the ith a hideous explosion of noise, and shards of glass rained down on Gunner It was as if the VirtNet itself had just been shattered with a hae’s screams were crystal clear

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Gunner fell to the floor, ar debris His ga fast There was no loss of pressure because they weren’t actually in space, so the atmosphere of the ship re had started to break down--he saw glitches and fading color and wavering edges

Gunner brushed hih the as on top of George,the old iant robot--a thick,steel and chro red stea with its every

Fro the oldon the shiny les and ether Gunner kneas a siht still sent a chill up his spine And he knew he had to fight this thing off

Little flaps opened on the robot’s shoulders Two long instrurabbed the sides of George’s head A third ar weapon that looked like a scorpion’s tail It sla out his Core--that sile link to the real world--pulling the chip fro it into the emptiness that hovered behind the shattered s

Gunner felt his world collapsing Nothing had prepared him for this Whoever was behind the attack broke new Virt laws every few seconds, each one worse than the last Coding out the Core was not only illegal, but was an extre And the robot had done it as easily as tearing off a bandage