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“No!”

This time, the words were bellowed at her The harshness returned to Thero’s eyes with a rush, and he grabbed her by the throat with his right hand and slammed her into the wall The i her windpipe seemed to cut off the blood from her brain

“Please…” she gasped, crying out to the other side of Thero’s mind “Please!”

Thero released her, and she dropped to the floor beside the heap of bodies

“How dare you turn ainst me!”

“I didn’t,” sheto help”

“I don’t need your help!” he shouted “Orthe world to its knees Once they see what I do to Australia, there will be no need for negotiations They will beg me for mercy”

He stepped back over to the control panel and shoved the master switch into the on position She heard the heavy circuit closing and the big generators in the other roohts around thehten

Soon, the generators were hu up to a feverous pitch

“No,” she begged “Please, don’t do this”

“I’lad you could be here,” Thero shouted “I will not even wait for zero hour I will punish them immediately And you atch from my side as I wreak destruction on those who persecuted me”

Out in the spherical cavern, the gears began to churn, and the giant collection of pipes and electrical conduits began to tilt The weapon turned slowly, clinking like a roller coaster being dragged up the steep track to its release point

Hayley found herself dizzy as the weapon slowly ratcheted itself toward a new position, an alignh the Earth’s crust at the dormant rift in the Australian outback

FORTY-FIVE

Kurt and his three newfound cohorts crept through several lengths of tunnel connecting various areas that the miners had quarried until eventually they arrived in a hub containing living quarters for the prisoners