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Pieter had been right: The stairas singing It vibrated with the enerallyupward, away from the blackouts and toward the promise of power, of warm food and hot showers Meanwhile, Knox and his people mobilized behind them to squelch a different kind of power

At fifty-six, they had their first spot of trouble A group of far a cluster of power cables over the railing, presu down When they spotted the blue coveralls of Mechanical, one of the farmers called out, "Hey, we keep you fed, why can’t you keep the juice on?"

"Talk to IT," Marck replied fro fuses We’re doing e can"

"Well, do it faster," the farht we just had a ratdamned power holiday to prevent this nonsense"

"We’ll have it by lunchtiht up with the head of the group, creating a jaet up there the faster you’ll get your juice," Knox explained He tried to hold his concealed gun casually, like it was any other tool

"Well how about giving us a hand with this tap, then? They’ve had power on fifty-seven for et our pu over the railing

Knox considered this What thehiht look suspicious He could sense McLain’s group several levels up, waiting on the

"I can spare two of et back to me that Mechanical had shit to do with this"

"Like I care," the far"

"Shirly, you and Courtnee give them a hand Catch up when you can"

Shirly’s ed with her eyes for hi," he told her

Marck came to her side He lifted his wife’s pack and handed her his lowered at Knox aa word to hio of the cables and took a step toward Knox "Hey, I thought you said you’d lend h to ot?" he asked "Because you’ve got it"

The farmer lifted his palms and backed away Courtnee and Shirly could already be heard sto their way below to coordinate with theup his pack

The men and women of Mechanical and Supply lurched forward oncefifty-six, atched the long column wind its way upward

Whispers rose as the power cables were lowered Powerful forces were ether and heading for so truly awful

And anyone with eyes and ears could tell: so

• • • •

There was no warning for Lukas, no countdown Hours of quiet anticipation, of insufferable nothingness, sih he had been told to expect the worst, Lukas felt like the waiting so long for so to happen just made it a fiercer surprise when it finally did

The double doors of landing thirty-four blew open Solid steel peeled back like curls of paper The sharp ring made Lukas jump, his hand slip off the stock of his rifle Gunfire erupted beside hi in fear Maybe excite i flew through the sate

There was a terrible pause--and then another explosion like a blow to the ears Lukas nearly dropped his gun The se Pieces of people Lukas had known came to a sick rest in the entrance hall of IT The people responsible began to surge through before he could take stock, before he could becoht in front of hiain, and this time Sims didn’t yell This ti to push through the chairs tu as if pulled by invisible strings, arcs of red like hurled paint flying froemoved so slowly Lukas could see his mouth part, a yell in the center of a burly beard, a chest as wide as two men He held a rifle at his waist He fired at the ruined security station Lukas watched Peter Billings spin to the floor, clutching his shoulder Bits of glass shivered from theframe in front of Lukas as barrel after barrel erupted across the conference table, the shatteredseenificant now A prudent move

The hail of bullets hit the man unseen The conference rooe ed open His rifle was cracked in half, a shiny bullet between his fingers He tried to reload

The guns of IT loosed their own bullets too fast to count Levers were held, and springs and gunpowder did the rest The giant ot it reloaded He tu across the floor Another figure appeared through the door, a tiny woth of his barrel, saw her turn and look right at hiray hair flowing like more of it wrapped in a halo around her

He could see her eyes He had yet to shoot his gun, had watched, jaw slack, as the fighting took place

The wo his way

Lukas pulled the trigger His rifle flashed and lurched In the ti and terrible time it took for the bullet to cross the roo A bomb

Her torso spun and her chest blossomed red The object fell There was another aait, er, until an explosion blew the chairs and the people ae made a futile attempt He wept until his clip was empty, wept as he fumbled for the clasp, shoved a spare into the butt, the salt bitter on his lips as he drew back that bolt and let loose with anotherhail of metal--so much stouter and quicker than the flesh it met

21

"I have seen the day

that I have worn a visor

and could tell a whispering tale"

Bernard woke to shouting, to his eyes burning froo blast

Peter Billings was shaking his shoulders, yelling at hiht in his wide eyes and soot-stained brow Blood stained his coveralls in a wide rust-colored pool

"Hrm?"

"Sir! Can you hear me?"

Bernard pushed Peter’s hands away and tried to sit up He groped about his body, looking for anything bleeding or broken His head throbbed His hand caroaned

Peter crouched by his side Bernard saw Lukas standing just behind the sheriff, rifle on his shoulder, peering toward the stairwell There was shouting in the distance, and then the patter of gunfire

"We’ve got three men dead," Peter said "A feounded Siot it a lot worse than us A lot worse"

Bernard nodded He checked his ears, was surprised they weren’t bleeding as well He dotted his sleeve with blood from his nose and patted Peter on the arm He nodded over his shoulder "Get Lukas," he said

Peter frowned but nodded He spoke with Lukas, and the young man knelt by Bernard