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It was a good plan, she had to admit The easily moved toere by far the quickest way to erect such a barricade And yet theirthe subhumans can’t push the towers"

"I am, yeah," he said His Australian accent was softer than Neil’s had been, but every now and then he said soht the late tycoon back to life in a way that Zane could not "It beats a knife fight"

Tania forced herself to s her concerns It was unclear if the aura towers still did anything at all, but if there re she wanted to do was have the colonists return to find the, and she could think of no better option "Okay Don’t waste anyto me then Report in when it’s done"

"Cheers," he said, and signed off

She’d barely drawn her next breath when Tim shouted down from the pilot’s cabin "Tania, you should see this!"

The hatch at the top of the ladder was still open, but she already had her excursion suit on and this one was nothing like the svelte model she’d worn last time The one she’d worn to Colorado, and left in the mud at the base of Camp Exodus’s wall "Tell us, Tiht, sorry" His voice had a slight quiver to it "Remember those pointy bits that stuck out from the bottoht they ht be a weapon Tania feared they were the nozzles of a one"

She blanched, and cursed whoever had built this tin can for not putting a vid screen down here "Gone? As in retracted? Vanished?"

"Yes … Wait, No Hang on"

Seconds passed Tania felt subtle changes in her weight Tiet a better view

"Tania, where those toere I now see Elevator threads Hundreds of the down"

She tried to absorb the ra block that went part and parcel with anything the Builders did: Why? Why so many in one place? Why put one in Darwin, one in Belenitude more on a third site so late?

Perhaps the other two sites were just test locations, or outposts, in their eventual colonization of Earth And this site represented ould beco like it

"Skyler and Ana," Vanessa said Her voice shattered Tania’s h a"They’re down below, somewhere, aren’t they?"

Tania shook her head "They should be in Darwin by now, or even on their way back to Bele Russell Blackfield’s name to the list

"They should be, yes But o check"

"H a cliht … if they failed, we could still finish the mission"

"We finish our task first," Tania said, more stern than she’d intended "After that, it’s worth preparing for, at least Tim?"

He answered instantly "I already asked them to prep a climber and send it over"

"Good man"

"Thanks But Tania?"

"Yes?"

"The door is tucked in the middle of that maze of Elevator threads"

She hadn’t considered that On the first visit, Jenny had had the decency to position their craft directly over the hexagonal door before unleashing her betrayal That raphene cords were thin to the point of being invisible, so piloting into thatthat a solid i so much as a scratch on the exoticback fro "Get us as close as you can," Tania said "We’ll wiggle through soht as Tih for Tania to cycle twice through feelings of fear and resolve The only thing that re that had happened, was the doubt She couldn’t shake the idea that all of this, the installation of these objects, arave It made no sense to her, of course Certainly there were much easier ways to wipe out a planet with minimal effort, so she concluded there must be some other purpose She simply doubted that the purpose the Builders had inKarl in," Ti"

"Bad news," he said He was practically shouting, the sounds of battle heavy in the background "The towers refuse to e, no matter e try Ammo is low--"

"Get out of there," Tania said "Leave now"

"It’ll be eight hours before the next climber returns" Somewhere near him a woman screamed

"Karl, listen," Tania said "I didn’t want to say it before because I didn’t want to be wrong I think the auras are gone"

"Gone? Wait, you think?"

"I was in the Clear in Colorado, just like you when you first set foot in Belem I had the headache, so I’ht before the subhumans started this assault I think SUBS has switched off, and the auras, too"

"I … Tania, Christ I think I get what you’re suggesting, but I don’t know…"