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X5-494 doesn't want to nap ( Read more... ) -
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It's a simple two-man mission ( Read more... ) -
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"Okay, this was our rendezvous point." 494 spreads his hands at the room. Before the recent independence struggle, it might have been a hotel of some sort, but by now it was too picked over to tell. "I don't know what to tell you. I'm pretty sure he's not dead, but our flight kicks out of here in three hours and Manticore isn't waiting for him to ( Read more... ) -
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Before: I don't plan on coming back.He's not stupid. 494 knows better than to go cold turkey on anything, much less Manticore regulatory pharmaceuticals. It's a matter of slow experimentation, and different gradations of doses. Sometimes he goes too far: when he tries to get off the long peach-colored ones completely, the shakes are so bad he winds ( Read more... ) -
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When it's over, he's in solitary for three whole weeks ( Read more... ) -
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Lydecker joins Renfro at the observation window, still grimy from the grit and dust of transit. She doesn't look away from the procedure in the other room ( Read more... ) -
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The sun rises, and the bomb is still sitting there.
494 has been staring at it all night. Manticore discourages thinking, but he can't help himself sometimes.
He's come to a decision. He has two options. There is no middle way.
One: He can tell Berrisford and Rachel. He can run with them, and protect them. He knows how, and Manticore knows he ( Read more... ) -
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X5-494 has never exchanged love letters. It must be something like this, though. He brings files and reports on Berrisford, and Renfro leaves sheaths of paper on 493 on his bunk ( Read more... ) -
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Sandoval's not in the room when 494 arrives for his briefing; neither is Pickering. The woman sits alone, legs crossed, leaning back in her chair. He snaps to attention immediately. She barely glances up ( Read more... ) -
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Rachel is improving. It's not 494's primary objective, but he's committed to an hour a week that's not surveillance and data extraction, and he's damn well going to do that job well. He thinks he's improving too. His sound is changing. He can't explain it, but the music sounds better lately ( Read more... )