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He looked around At all the ugly, bloody artwork on his walls On pedestals Such opulent, pristine surroundings thatHe hated it all What it represented The type of man it proved him to be He’d sold his soul for marble and plaster, for canvas and paint For money And noas empty inside, while his house and bank account were full

A damned sorry trade

He walked over to a pedestal with a bust of an e in its white, hollow eyes Eyes that probably had more substance than his own Then he pushed it over, watched it shatter like dust on the floor And he did the same to the vase beside it

Meaningless All of it Without her, what did it mean?

He went down to one knee, the pain in his chest crippling Ferro lowered his head and pressed his palainst his eyes He felt it all crash in The darkness, the shame The hatred For himself For the wo in the mud, shrouded in darkness

But in his htness One bit of sunshine

It was Julia She was reaching her hand down to hi to free him And he had turned her away

Damn him to hell, he had turned away his salvation

Julia exited the bathroom adjacent to her office and put her head down on her desk The cra with all day had now been explained by the tireat, because it nant But she honestly didn’t feel like throwing a party about it

It just confir to be over, well and truly over, soon There would be no link between theether

Except h, then they would have that But she really wasn’t holding her breath on that score Not right now

No That wasn’t true She wasn’t going to let there be nothing She lifted her head and punched the intercom that connected her with Thad’s desk

“Thad? Order one of those big, obnoxious life-size soldiers from Cold Planet”

“A real one or one from a novelty store?”