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The banging on the airlock door was getting louder,that sounded like tearing He i up handfuls of steel betweenat the skin of the ship He cla out behind hie and took as left of his pistol’s anize the flat black package that he took out next And then he did

“If we’re not staying, we’d best leave,” Verbinski said

“Let’s go,” Bull said, pushing the grenades into the pouch on the EVA suit’s thigh

Naorew fainter and farther away as the air leaked out, and then the shaft was open below them A full kilometer’s fall to the trapped elevator, and then another past that to… what? Ashford? Certain death? Bull didn’t know any fro theh the vacuum Verbinski and the security man, Nao it, they’d all paired off with so mind, that seemed important

“Juarez?” Verbinski said on the radio, and Bull was surprised to hear his voice

“Sir”

“If you get a good shot, you think you could crack the visors on those suits?”

“Your suit, ood condition”

“Do your best,” Verbinski said

Bull felt it when the enemy force breached the airlock He couldn’t even say what it was exactly Some little press of a shock wave, a whisper-thin breath of atht at the bottom of the shaft where there shouldn’t have been There were probably about a thousand safety ht now He hoped so Far below, he saw a muzzle flash, but they were so far ahead, the bullet almost certainly hit the sides of the shaft and spent itself before it could reach them

Juarez turned, his rifle steadied between his feet The man’s face went calm and soft and the rifle flashed silently

“Got one, Verb,” he said And then, “Sergeant?”

Verbinski didn’t answer He was still floating, skiuide the elevator, but his eyes were closed His face was slack, and foam flecked his lips and nostrils Bull hadn’t even known the one,” Cass said

The rest of the trip to the elevator was a thing carved fro wildly behind hi, though He didn’t know if that was a good thing Just as they reached the elevator, a lucky shot fro out his air supply Bull watched the man die, but he didn’t hear it The hatchway Corin had burned through the elevator’s base seeot one arm in and Naomi pulled him the rest of the way