; ; So I autodescended through another skylight and started to move ; through the building, following the redprints floor-by-floor and ; avoiding anything that moved--including the two powered-down sentries ; on the eighty-fifth floor.
; ; Two elevator shafts later, I'd worked my way across to the space that ; had been unregistered--but had definitely been occupied--on my visit ; only two days ago.
; ; I needed a lead--any lead--but the space was empty.
; ; And I do mean empty.
; ; Any traces of the people who had been here were removed--sprayed over ; and sponged away.
; ; But the shadow along a far wall that slid and dipped and then moved ; toward me was here--and I avoided it only by ducking as it leapt where ; I had been, missed, and dropped into a roll. So much for the ; StealthSuit.
; ; I rolled away into a corner and the shadow was on me again--this time ; in a flash.
; ; Thinking quickly, I pulled out my autodescender, fired it across the ; room at the shadow and missed--but it locked in tightly. In another ; moment my new, illegal SlugLauncher had punched out the perspex ; windows, clarifying the view of the lights across the street, the ; whine of Rotors zipping past stories below filling the room.
; ; The shadow came at me again and I ran straight across the empty, ; sanitized space, and straight out into the twilight of the evening ; air, pushing off of the ledge and dropping violently toward the ; brightly lit street--I watched as the perspex glittered below me in ; the air, falling before me. It would've been pretty if I wasn't about ; to be flattened or eviscerated.
; ; In the time it takes to exhale, I braked, swung in, locked in at ; probably the fiftieth floor and looked up.
; ; The shadow was peering down at me--a little bulge of head sticking up ; over the smooth vertical surface of the building's facade--and in a ; moment it was coming closer, racing down the exterior of the building, ; screaming in a high-pitched voice, somewhat female but all nightmare.
; ; I whumped the perspex in front of me with a wide-beam circle and slid ; in through the hole, ejecting the end of the autodescender from its ; clamps and running through the office space, blowing the door into the ; hallway, and making my way to the elevators, prying open the doors, ; autoascending quickly.
; ; The shadow was still screaming.
; ; Actually, this was handy because I could tell it was still ; following--and it's scream filled the shaft as I pried open the ; eighty-fifth floor doors and ran like hell down the long, open ; hallway.
; ; I pulled my StealthSuit mask off, letting my hair fly free, exposing ; my head, and--like clockwork--the Sentries powered up and moved down ; the hall toward me.
; ; The screaming shadow blasted into the hall just a few seconds ; behind--and I donned my StealthSuit mask, dodging left and then ; rolling as the Sentries locked onto the shadow instead of me.
; ; As I crouched in the hallway's far corner, they opened ; industrial-strength Neuron fire.
; ; The shadow kept coming.
; ; They swung out heavier ordinance from side podbays and the hallway was ; filled with sonics that jangled my teeth--even through the ; StealthSuit.
; ; The shadow kept coming.
; ; Just as the shadow was about to pass the sentries, gas billowed from ; another set of podbays, filling the hallway with what I assumed was ; lethal nerve agent.
; ; The smoke curled around the shadow's legs as it kept coming.
; ; I bolted through the stairwell's door, slammed it closed, and whumped ; it with a low grade cutting force, melting the door's edges to the ; frame.
; ; The gigantic dent in the center of the door that appeared suddenly and ; forcefully tipped me off that the shadow, although unseen, was still ; in pursuit. I rolled to one side just as the door and walls around the ; door was peppered with hundreds of small holes--Kevlar slugshot from ; the Sentries.
; ; The door's dent grew again--suddenly--as the door and frame loosened ; from the wall.
; ; More slug holes--and the sound of them bouncing off of surfaces in the ; stairwell as they rained on the stairs.
; ; I moved--up to the roof, whumping the access door.
; ; In another moment I was on an adjoining rooftop, autoascending with a ; new line.
; ; In another moment I was yet another rooftop over--just now thinking to ; pray that my StealthSuit was enough to prevent detection. It was ; guaranteed to shield, even from orbital scans.
; ; Not that I would be around to collect on the guarantee if it failed.
; ; Back on street level, StealthSuit balled up and stowed in my cargo ; pouch, I wove in and out of the punks crowding the sidewalk, aimlessly ; traveling.
; ; I was sure the shadow had been waiting for me--but it was a good ; thing, I suppose. I'd rather be dead than Meat and it looked like the ; dead part of the deal had been arranged.
; ; I glanced over my shoulder as I walked, expecting to hear screaming ; from an open mouth just inches from my face.
; ; End of Part 6 ; [1 ; 2 ; 3 ; 4 ; 5 ; 6 ; 7 ; 8 ; 9 ; 10 ; 11 ; 12 ; 13] ; ;