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Kurt hadthe short-barreled M4 carbine, but the odd, alun to feel to

ld hi

He would have expected a tri-en-helium mixture, that worked better at sustained depths To be sure he wasn’t i it, Kurt spoke briefly “Four score and seven years ago…”

He should have sounded like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, but he sounded exactly like himself There was no helium in the air, or very little of it anyway He put the rifle aside There would be no gunfight at the bottom of the Tasman Lake One shot would destroy the entire place

He pulled a large dive knife fro if this turn of events made his odds better or worse

Twenty feet down a hall, he found water at the base of a ladder He went up it and explored the next floor, finding two rooms filled with stacks of batteries A wall panel displayed power states, reen and a few odd ones in yellow or red Kurt wondered where they were getting the power to charge the huge stack or what they were using it for

He went up another level and found what looked like the crew’s living quarters Eave him the impression the place had been abandoned

He moved back to the central ladder, ascended to a third level, and found the next hatch resting on its stops He was about to open it when he heard the sound of footsteps pounding down the ladder toward him

He held completely still

Voices echoed “Come on,” someone shouted “Move”

Kurt was about to slide back down a level and hide, when the footsteps abruptlyon the deck above, and headed away from him It sounded like several people in a hurry

He opened the hatch just a sliver and looked through No one there

Quietly, he pulled himself up and peeked around the corner Three men stood in front of another airlock This one re doors in a center-city office building As it opened, two of them went in and the third waited

The sound ofthe ladder came next Kurt looked up just as another man dropped in beside him

“What the…”