unlocks your ankles," Crankenshaft said. "Gold unlocks hers."
After Jato freed their ankles, Soz moved stiffly, swinging her legs off the ledge.
"Go to the pool," Crankenshaft said. "Both of you."
"No," Jato said.
"Don't make it harder on her than necessary," Crankenshaft said. "I can calculate a lot of what I need, but I'll achieve better results with genuine images of the two of you to work from."
Jato stayed put. "I won't rape her and I won't kill her. You can doctor holos to make me look like a Trader, but nothing can make me act like one."
Crankenshaft's voice hardened. "Go to the pool. Otherwise, I'll pump her so full of clockwork venom she'll beg you to kill her."
With no warning, Soz moved.
Fast.
Dropping to one knee by her boots, she whipped out her hands, shreds of leather flying away from her wrists. She yanked the "decorative" tubes off her boots and brought them up, one in each hand, liquid shooting out from both. One stream splattered over the drone, creating clouds of gas. The other hit Crankenshaft's carbine and splashed into his face. He shouted, dropping the laser as he covered his face with his hands. When the gun hit the ground, it shattered like porcelain.
The Mandelbrot globe hissed and a shot from its air-syringe hit Jato in the neck. In a bizarre blur of motion, Soz threw her boots. They hurtled through the air and smashed into the globe, shattering its outer shell where the liquid from her cylinder had doused it. The whole assembly crashed to the floor, its innards breaking apart on the stone. Blinking and humming, the debris moved in twitches as it began to reassemble itself.
"Smash the components!" Soz yelled, sprinting across the studio. She moved like a puppet, her body under control of hydraulics rather than muscles and bones.
As Jato strode over to crush the remains of the drone, he saw Crankenshaft lower his hands, revealing a face covered with burns. In the same instant that he grabbed for a gun on his belt, Soz reached him. She brought her hands up with eerie speed and hit him under the chin, snapping back his head. He flew over backward, crashing to the ground. His head hit the floor and he lay still, breathing but unconscious.
"Soz, no!" Jato raced forward when she jerked up her leg. He collided with her as her foot came down, and they staggered to the side, enough to make her miss Crankenshaft. Her foot hit the floor with a teeth-jarring impact that would have crushed the Dreamer's chest.
Jato gulped in a breath. "No killing."
She turned to him like a machine, no emotion on her face. It was hard to believe this was the same woman he had kissed on the Promenade.
Then her expression became human again, as if she had reset herself. She exhaled. "He'll live." Grimly she added, "We might not. Are you all right?"
A familiar burning was spreading in his neck and torso. "I took a shot of venom. Did he give you an antidote?"
"No. More venom." She went to retrieve her boots and their tubes. "My meds are trying to synthesize an antidote, but it's hard to do when their target keeps changing."
"We better hurry." He grabbed his bird off the console. "His node must have alerted the city and his other drones."
She pulled on her boots. "I put locks on his system. It will take a few minutes for it to break them." Her voice sounded strained. Labored.
As Jato turned toward the door across the room, his gaze raked the pool — and he froze.
The holosculpture was still evolving. It had spawned more and yet more Jatos, until they blended into a design of feathered motion. A superimage had formed, a fractal, its pattern repeating on a finer and finer scale. Superimposed on the fractal, a face was coming clear. A giant Trader face.
His face.
"
No
." He spun back to the console.
"Come on!" Soz called.
He stabbed at the console. "We have to destroy that sculpture."
"We have to go! We don't have much time."
"He stole my
life
." Jato gave up on the computer and swung around to her. "He created
After Jato freed their ankles, Soz moved stiffly, swinging her legs off the ledge.
"Go to the pool," Crankenshaft said. "Both of you."
"No," Jato said.
"Don't make it harder on her than necessary," Crankenshaft said. "I can calculate a lot of what I need, but I'll achieve better results with genuine images of the two of you to work from."
Jato stayed put. "I won't rape her and I won't kill her. You can doctor holos to make me look like a Trader, but nothing can make me act like one."
Crankenshaft's voice hardened. "Go to the pool. Otherwise, I'll pump her so full of clockwork venom she'll beg you to kill her."
With no warning, Soz moved.
Fast.
Dropping to one knee by her boots, she whipped out her hands, shreds of leather flying away from her wrists. She yanked the "decorative" tubes off her boots and brought them up, one in each hand, liquid shooting out from both. One stream splattered over the drone, creating clouds of gas. The other hit Crankenshaft's carbine and splashed into his face. He shouted, dropping the laser as he covered his face with his hands. When the gun hit the ground, it shattered like porcelain.
The Mandelbrot globe hissed and a shot from its air-syringe hit Jato in the neck. In a bizarre blur of motion, Soz threw her boots. They hurtled through the air and smashed into the globe, shattering its outer shell where the liquid from her cylinder had doused it. The whole assembly crashed to the floor, its innards breaking apart on the stone. Blinking and humming, the debris moved in twitches as it began to reassemble itself.
"Smash the components!" Soz yelled, sprinting across the studio. She moved like a puppet, her body under control of hydraulics rather than muscles and bones.
As Jato strode over to crush the remains of the drone, he saw Crankenshaft lower his hands, revealing a face covered with burns. In the same instant that he grabbed for a gun on his belt, Soz reached him. She brought her hands up with eerie speed and hit him under the chin, snapping back his head. He flew over backward, crashing to the ground. His head hit the floor and he lay still, breathing but unconscious.
"Soz, no!" Jato raced forward when she jerked up her leg. He collided with her as her foot came down, and they staggered to the side, enough to make her miss Crankenshaft. Her foot hit the floor with a teeth-jarring impact that would have crushed the Dreamer's chest.
Jato gulped in a breath. "No killing."
She turned to him like a machine, no emotion on her face. It was hard to believe this was the same woman he had kissed on the Promenade.
Then her expression became human again, as if she had reset herself. She exhaled. "He'll live." Grimly she added, "We might not. Are you all right?"
A familiar burning was spreading in his neck and torso. "I took a shot of venom. Did he give you an antidote?"
"No. More venom." She went to retrieve her boots and their tubes. "My meds are trying to synthesize an antidote, but it's hard to do when their target keeps changing."
"We better hurry." He grabbed his bird off the console. "His node must have alerted the city and his other drones."
She pulled on her boots. "I put locks on his system. It will take a few minutes for it to break them." Her voice sounded strained. Labored.
As Jato turned toward the door across the room, his gaze raked the pool — and he froze.
The holosculpture was still evolving. It had spawned more and yet more Jatos, until they blended into a design of feathered motion. A superimage had formed, a fractal, its pattern repeating on a finer and finer scale. Superimposed on the fractal, a face was coming clear. A giant Trader face.
His face.
"
No
." He spun back to the console.
"Come on!" Soz called.
He stabbed at the console. "We have to destroy that sculpture."
"We have to go! We don't have much time."
"He stole my
life
." Jato gave up on the computer and swung around to her. "He created
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