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The alien forced its massive body through the doorway, wrecking the surrounding wall in the process.
Krystel moved in close and hacked at the beast with her claymore and shield. Her mouth stretched in a
tight nasty grin, and her eyes gleaming with a killing fever. The alien howled endlessly, its wailing voice
almost unbearable at close range. The sheer fury of Krystel's attack held the alien where it was, but its
wounds healed in seconds, and even through her killing rage, Krystel knew she wasn't really hurting it.
She snarled into its grinning face, and then turned and ran. The alien lurched after her, but she was
already across the room and plunging through the far doorway by the time it had started to build up
speed. Hunter and Williams were waiting for her at the base of a tall tower. A ramp led up the side of the
wall into darkness.
'This way,' said Hunter. 'There's no other way out. If nothing else, this should put some space between
us and the creature.'
He led the way up the ramp, with Williams and Krystel crowding close behind. After a while, they
calmed down enough to turn off their force shields, to save energy. The sheer slope made the going hard,
and Hunter's thighs were soon aching fiercely. He drove himself on regardless, and snarled at the others
when they looked like slowing. He couldn't hear the alien yet, but he had no doubt it was still on their
trail. He held his field lantern out before him, its golden light illuminating the tower above and below him.
He watched his feet carefully again there was no safety rail, and a slip at the wrong moment could easily
prove fatal. The tower seemed to go on for ever, and the drop just kept getting longer. He glared into the
shadows ahead. How the hell could everything have gone wrong so quickly? Doors came and went in the
wall beside him, but he kept pressing on. He could hear the alien coming up the ramp after them. It was
getting closer.
And finally they ran out of ramp. Bright light fell through an open doorway, and Hunter had no choice
but to plunge into it. He lurched to a halt as the brilliant sunlight blinded him, and he blinked painfully for
several moments before his sight returned. He turned off his field lantern and put it back in his backpack
as he looked quickly around him.
Huge enigmatic structures covered the length and breadth of the roof, dwarfing Hunter and his
companions. The towering shapes were complex and strange, composed of a pearly iridescent material
that softened and distorted every detail. Hunter stared silently about him, unable to react at all. They were
too strange, too alien, for any reaction of his to make sense. They were beyond any rational or emotional
response. They simply were, and Hunter couldn't tear his eyes away from them.
'Fascinating,' said Krystel. 'I wonder what they do?'
Her voice broke the spell, and Hunter shook his head, disorientated. 'Save the questions for another
day,' he said finally. 'That creature will be here any minute. Start looking for a way off this roof.'
'Wait a minute,' said Williams unexpectedly. 'I have a problem. I can't seem to raise the pinnace
computers.'
Hunter looked at him blankly for a moment, and then activated his comm implant. He reached out for the
computers, but there was nothing there, only silence. It was like reaching out in the dark for a light switch,
and finding only empty space. Hunter swallowed hard. He'd known that one day he'd have to learn to do
without them, but the sudden silence had caught him unprepared. 'Investigator, Williams, can you hear
me?'
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'Not through my comm unit,' said Krystel. 'We're cut off, Captain.'
'We've got to get back to the pinnace,' said Williams urgently. 'We've got to re-establish contact. All my
work, all my memories are there.'
'One thing at a time, Doctor,' said Hunter. 'First we get off the roof, then we'll decide what to do next.'
'Quiet!' said Krystel. 'The creature's almost here.' She moved over to the doorway, pulled a concussion
grenade from her bandolier, primed it, and tossed it down the ramp. She backed quickly away, and the
tower shook as the grenade exploded some distance below.
'That should slow it down,' said Krystel. She looked at Hunter. 'There's only one way off this roof,
Captain, and we both know what it is. The bridges.'
She gestured at the gossamer strands that hung
between the tower and its surrounding buildings, and Hunter winced.
'I was afraid you were going to say that. I don't trust those things. They look as though they'd blow away
in a good wind.'
'The aliens must have used them,' said Williams. 'And they weigh a hell of a lot more than we do.'
Hunter looked at the webbing again, and then back at the doorway. 'All right, let's do it. And quickly,
before I get a rush of brains to the head and realize how crazy this is.'
He moved over to the edge of the roof, hesitated briefly, and then sat down and swung his legs out and
over on to the webbing. He looked down once, and decided not to look again. It was a long way down.
He muttered something indistinct and stepped gingerly out on to the bridge. It was six to seven feet wide,
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