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Rachel’s face appeared in Gunner’selse There was only Rachel And he hadn’t spent the last ten years annihilating the Sleep to give up now

Gunner let out a screas of air, and scra at the last second onto its enor’s back The robot s with jerky ht for Cherry, as if it didn’t know or didn’t care that Gunner clung to it With each step, glass crunched under the ht up to the woh the air until she crashed into the wall and then cruain He searched for soage, but his fingers found only a smooth metal hull

Cherry didn’t make a sound when the machine tore out her Core This time, the robot flicked the ht laser, obliterating it Marta, who’d scrae of the rooht her and yanked her into the air Over the sound of her screa

Still he searched, punching the robot’son desperately with the other The ain to access the code--he needed to pull a weapon froht as well have been in the Wake for all the good his efforts did He was blocked from the code like a severed spine

The next few seconds were a blur of movement and sound Marta erupted in one final scream as her Core was excised fro in one swift, crushing blow fro that his Core would be removed as well He searched hisca hi hirunt that sent the air rushing fro body, its hissing stearoans of mechanics--was hunched over hi down at him like thrusters on a spaceship

"At least tell h his chest was on fire "Tell me why"

A voice--detached, almost dreamlike--answered

"The Mortality Doctrine is ood-bye to flesh and bone, Gunner Skale"

There was a burst of pure light and a rush of sound, and then Gunner felt his memories drain from his mind like sand down a funnel

12

Hours later … weeks later … a lifetih he’d never closed them

He was in a forest, surrounded by trees and darkness and mist In front of hiht, like a trained soldier, a look of subli nor old Neither ugly nor handsome