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They took up their positions Peter fit the tip of the wrench around the first bolt

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"They’re here," said A across the table fro; she felt a little dizzy It always came on like this, with a sensation of physical acceleration that culminated in an abrupt expulsion from one world to the next, as if she were a rock hurled fro withas I’m here, they’re safe You know that"

She did If Carter died, the dopeys, his Many, would die with him Without thearden one last tio, one on each side Peter loosened the first, leaving it in place As he fit the head of the wrench around the second bolt, a iant fist, struck the hatch from the opposite side The deck beneath his knees shuddered fro; the loosened bolt popped from the hole and bounced across the deck He had seconds to spare With a final yank, he freed the last bolt and began to run

The hatch bleard

A to a reptilian crouch Her body was glossy and compact, annealed with hard muscle beneath the crystalline sheath of skin Peter was standing just beyond the net For a s; then her head slanted with a darting hts She scuttled forward Peter saw no recognition in her eyes

"Aers "It’s me"

She halted, inches fro, Aulfed her and shot upward, her weight freeing the spinner froan to twirl, faster and faster Arasp Michael yanked the second rope, swinging the boo the net shrieked through the block Peter ran to the rail He had just enough time to see the splash before Amy vanished into the oily water

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Darkness

She was spinning and twisting and falling Her senses swar water It filled her rip of pure death She touched down upon the le She needed to breathe To breathe! She was thrashing, clawing, but there was no escaping its grasp The first bubble of air rose fro, to open one’s lungs and take in the air: the body demanded it A second bubble and her throat opened and the water sla No, it was she as dissolving Her body felt untethered to her thoughts, a thing apart, no longer hers Her heart began to slow A new darkness came upon her It spread froht Panic, and pain, and then the letting go This is what it’s like to die