Behemoth | Page 2

a little unconventional.

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108"You're not," she said.
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109"Completely. And I've got oodles of patience."
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Chapter
XX Automechanica
The rst round goes to the corpses.

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, Clarke reects, and tweaks another setting. www.feedbooks.com

Chapter
XXI Gravediggers
Find the damn mines.

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Chapter
XXII Striptease
The nal score is nine mines and no suspects. Either might be subject to change.

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"How's it going?" Clarke asks.
A bony shrug. She can count the ribs even through his t-shirt.
"Anything yet? Diagnostic test, or—" www.feedbooks.com

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Chapter
XXIII Frontier

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Chapter
XXIV Groundwork

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Chapter
XXV Harpodon

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135"I see," Rowan says.
"It's not mind-reading. Nothing like that."
"But maybe, if you could. . . what would be the word, scan?"
"We called it ne-tuning," Lenie says, her voice as opaque as her eyes.
"If you could ne-tune anybody who might have. . . "
"Already done. It was Ken who suggested it, in fact. We didn't nd anything."
"Did you ne-tune Ken?"
"You can't—" She stops. www.feedbooks.com

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"What results? Misinterpret how?" www.feedbooks.com

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"Shhh, " Lenie hisses. www.feedbooks.com

Chapter
XXVI The Bloodhound Iterations
N=1:

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Chapter
XXVII Without Sin

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146"We will soon," Lubin tells her.
She looks the question. www.feedbooks.com

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147campaign.
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"They probably weren't," Lubin says.
"How could they notbe? Are you saying it was some kind of accident?" www.feedbooks.com

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150"How many, exactly?"
"I don't know, exactly! Coupla dozen at least. But look, Lubin, there's somethin'
off about 'em, about the way they send. I've never felt it before." www.feedbooks.com

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154blast out a whole new foundation. Now we're gonna use them."
"Ken?"
A brief silence.
"Look, Ken," Nolan buzzes, "I can be at the cache in—"
"Not necessary," Lubin tells her. "Someone's already en route."
"Who's—" www.feedbooks.com

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155"It's gone. I'm right here, it's just fucking
gone. . . "
"What are you talking about?"
"The whole bottom of the hab, it's just—it must've set them both—"
"Both what? She only set one charge, and that was on—"
"Ken? Ken? Lubin, where the fuck are you? "
"This is Lubin."
Silence in the water.
"We've lost the med hab." His voice is like rusty iron.
"What —"
"How did—"
" Shut the fuck up ," Lubin snarls across the nightscape. www.feedbooks.com

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Chapter
XXVIII Baptism
Rowan pulls open the airlock before it's even nished draining. Seawater cascades
around Clarke's ankles into the wet room.

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161Her mechanical voice is passionless and dead level.
"Course you can. I'm going to fucking kill you, Grace." www.feedbooks.com

Chapter
XXIX Tag
There's nobody out there.

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163A dozen rifters turn at her thoughts and stare with dead white eyes.
"What's going on?" Clarke buzzes. "Where is she?" www.feedbooks.com

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164"And it wasn't aware of you any of this time?" Lubin asks.
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165"It followed your engine noise."
A little of the cockiness drains from Chen's posture.
"So we've got it," Clarke says. "Right now." www.feedbooks.com

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169"You'll hold me back," Lubin buzzes. "I stand much better odds if I don't have to
keep watching out for you. If you get in trouble—" www.feedbooks.com

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Chapter
XXX Fulcrum
She'd avoid it altogether if she could.

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sorr—" www.feedbooks.com

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To be honest, Clarke wonders about that too. www.feedbooks.com

Chapter
XXXI Incoming

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Part II
Seppuku 178

Chapter
I Dune
"I would gladly lay down my life for two brothers or eight cousins."
—J.D.S. Haldane

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181forward, peers through shafts of murky light. Nothing.
"What's the viz out there?" she wonders.
Lubin, intent on his piloting, doesn't look over. "Eight point seven."
Twenty meters from the surface. The water ahead darkens suddenly, as though www.feedbooks.com

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"What month is it?" she asks aloud.
"June." Lubin's heading for the helipad. www.feedbooks.com

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Chapter
II Nightingale

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okay.That's okay— " www.feedbooks.com

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Chapter
III Condom

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"Mmm." Lubin pulls the periscope back. The membrane reverts to lowglow.
"So if it isan alarm," Clarke says, "I'm guessing you've just set it off." www.feedbooks.com

Chapter
IV Gehenna

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People in the wildlands did not generally come so well-equipped. www.feedbooks.com

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201"No," said the man, very distinctly. The woman froze.
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"Mister, I don't even know what that means." www.feedbooks.com

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Chapter
V The Trigonometry of Salvation
This does not parse, Lubin thought.

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Chapter
VI Migration

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Chapter
VII Karma
Achilles Desjardins woke to the sound of a scream.

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218"Your
cat," Sawyer repeated. "And why are you telling me?"
"I—you're Mandelbrot's vet, you—"
The voice was icy: "I haven't been anyone'sveterinarian in over three years." www.feedbooks.com

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Chapter
VIII DisArmor
Leave Cadavers Here Only Unauthorized Disposal Will Be Prosecuted
N'AmAt/CSIRA Biohazards Statute 4023-A-25-sub5

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227"Don't you think?"
She decided not to push it. "Night looks pretty much like day to me. Just not as
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Chapter
IX Stargazer

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Chapter
X Sleeper
Everything changed at ten-thirty the next morning.

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"That's in Vermont," he added helpfully. www.feedbooks.com

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