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There was a sudden, vivid explosion, and crimson flames boiled down and out of the stairwell. The
flames burned fiercely, but neither they nor their heat could get past Carrion's mental shield. The fire leapt
and blossomed in the stairwell, lighting the scene bright as day, consuming the slime hungrily. The flames
died away bit by bit as the slime disappeared, until finally they were gone and the quiet and the gloom
returned. A harsh, bitter smell filled the air, but nothing scuttled down the steps or oozed from the walls.
They looked about them, taking in the strange alien growths that sprouted from the metal walls and
ceiling. Thick streamers of webbing hung down, twisting slowly back and forth, as though someone had
just passed through them. Silvery traces glowed on the walls like living circuit patterns. And thick and
heavy on the air, growing stronger by the moment, was the stench of rotting meat.
"First insects that wouldn't die, and vanish into solid walls, then living slime with homicidal tendencies,
and now this," said Frost. "Whatever's hiding down here really doesn't want to be found."
"Esper!" Silence's voice rang on the quiet, echoing faintly, but there was no reply. "Stasiak, Ripper,
where are you? Can you hear me? Diana?"
They waited, but the echoes died away with nothing to replace them. The shadows were still, and very
dark, and deep enough to hide all kinds of secrets.
"Spread out and search this floor," Silence ordered. "I want them found. Maintain contact at all times.
And watch yourselves. Something down here doesn't like us at all."
They moved apart and started the slow process of searching through the rubble and the deserted rooms
and corridors. The continuing quiet was eerie and almost threatening, after the lengthy battles that had
preceded it. There was a feeling of imminence in the air, of something about to happen, that grated on
everyone's nerves. They found a huge hole in one wall, presumably made by a grenade or a Guardian,
and several glowing holes that could only have been made by disrupters, but there was no sign of the
esper or the marines, or of what they might have been fighting.
They finally returned to the foot of the stairs, and took turns looking at each other, shrugging and shaking
their heads.
"The Guardians must have taken them deeper into the Base," said Frost at last. "They could have been
programmed to capture rather than kill."
"But Carrion told Diana how to handle them," said Silence. "They should have been easy targets for
someone with her skills."
"Something must have gone wrong," said Carrion.
Silence nodded reluctantly. "Find them, Carrion. Use your esp."
The outlaw frowned, concentrating. Frost looked at Silence. "I thought he was a polter," she said quietly.
"Polters aren't normally telepaths as well."
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"There's nothing normal about Carrion," said Silence, not bothering to lower his voice. "The Ashrai saw
to that."
Carrion opened his eyes and breathed deeply, shaking his head as though to clear it. "I can't find the
marines anywhere. The esper is hiding in a clothes locker, just down that corridor. She's shielding herself,
but I can feel her presence now that I'm looking for it."
"Why is she hiding?" asked Silence.
"I don't know, Captain. But it feels like something bad has happened to her. Something really bad."
He led the way down a side corridor, with Frost and Silence close behind, disrupters at the ready.
Shadows loomed menacingly as the lamp floated along above their heads. Carrion finally stopped before
a row of lockers, and looked at each of them thoughtfully. Silence looked at them disbelievingly. They
were barely a foot and a half wide and six feet high, not even big enough to make a decent coffin. What
could have frightened the esper so badly that she'd been driven to hide in such a cramped place? Carrion
stopped before one locker, and tried the door. It was locked. He focused his power, and the door burst
open, shattering the lock. Inside the locker, Diana Vertue was half-standing and half-crouching, her arms
wrapped around her, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. The posture would have been painful to hold for a
few minutes; after all this time it should have been agonising, but she made no move to leave the locker.
She showed no sign of even knowing they were there. Carrion reached out and gently touched her
shoulder.
"She's gone deep inside herself," said the outlaw softly. "Something happened here, something so bad
she shut down her whole mind rather than think about it."
"We need to know what happened," said Silence. "And where the marines are. Bring her out of it,
Carrion."
"There's nothing I can do, Captain. If I try and force her mind open, I could shatter it completely."
"Then I'll have to do it," said Silence. He knelt down beside the comatose esper and laid a surprisingly
gentle hand on her arm. "Diana, this is Captain Silence. Please, wake up and talk to me. I need you to
talk to me, Diana. Talk to your father."
The esper stirred slowly. Carrion and Frost exchanged a quick glance of surprise, and then looked back
at the esper as she slowly opened her eyes. She saw Silence kneeling beside her, and threw herself into
his arms, sobbing loudly. He held her tightly and rocked back and forth, murmuring comforting words
into her hair. He looked up, and shrugged when he saw Frost and Carrion studying him.
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