The Machinery of Light (66 page)

—r
eaching out toward that door beyond which lies everything that matters—

H
oly fuck!” yells Spencer.

“Here we go,” mutters Jarvin.

“Here’s the kicker,” says the AI.

S
armax looks into the eyes of the woman he remembers all too well.

“You came back,” he says.

“I never left,” she replies.

—t
ouches
it—

J
esus Christ!” yells Linehan.

—a
nd the Operative kills the antimatter, hits all retros—slowing the ship just enough to take it off the direct path of the
Righteous Fire-Dragon
. But it’s going to be close—

T
oo close.

“Hold on!” yells Spencer.

“You guys need to hear this,” says the AI.

“Fucking download it!” screams Jarvin.

The
Righteous Fire-Dragon
swipes the
Harrison
just aft of where the
Memphis
is still lodged in the flagship’s side.

T
he dropship is still attached to the wall of the hangar.

It’s being buffeted worse than any atmosphere.

Sarmax feels Velasquez’s hack-sequences continue to course through him, repairing his armor where they can, tending to the software in his mind—

—S
he’s putting all that’s going on overhead out of her mind—begins running the sequence to hack the door that leads through the inner perimeter. It’s not just a hack on zone either. It’s also her mind: her psionic abilities surge against the defenses—

T
he
Harrison’s
been sliced almost in two. Lynx and Linehan are clinging to the walls via magnetic clamps while the rear section of the flagship surges out of control. Wall starts to rip away ahead of them. Colonists stream out behind them like water playing from a fire hose.

W
hat’s left of
Righteous Fire-Dragon
charges on into the thick of the American fleet, smashing ships while getting smashed itself. The Operative’s screaming at Maschler and Riley to get inside the inner bridge. They’re leaping to comply as the Moon seesaws crazily in the window—

—I
t’s a demolition derby in the middle of the L2 fleet, and the megaships are coming apart under repeated impacts. Spencer and Jarvin are thrown back and forth as their ship plows on past the fleet, arcing back toward the Moon, the outer layers starting to shred—