User Guide

Suddenly the shadow exploded into motion, and a black serpent crossed the dis-
tance to Yang in a heartbeat. Yang felt red hot wires of pain lace his neck, and
he fell to his knees, cursing the post-sleep weakness that dulled his reflexes.
Psych-whip, a part of him thought calmly. They have been in the armory. And
then he smiled as the pain intensified … he welcomed it, opened himself to it,
letting it dance on his nerves and dissolve into his spine. Pain, awaken me ….
“We mean you no immediate harm, but I know of your special talents. You
must follow my instructions. Do not speak. Crawl along the blue lines.”
He looked at the blue dots on the floor, his head still swimming. His eyes flick-
ered up to one corner of the room, a zone of darkness with the vague sense
of a metal bulkhead curving. In that darkness he could imagine the bland sil-
very eye of the security camera staring down at him, but it could not see into
the far corner, where the blue dots led.
He felt the muscles tighten along his back. He felt the cool metal floor beneath
his hands.
Abruptly, he stood. Electric tension jolted across the room as shredder pistols
twitched to follow him. He could smell the uncertainty … should we fire? …
and it had the metallic tang of fear.
He took one slow pace along the blue dots, shuffling as if from fatigue, and then
every muscle in his body exploded backward toward his cryocell as a yell from
the bottom of his lungs split the darkness. One roll and he reached back over his
head to take the black metal lockbox into his hands … no wasted motion, no
wasted time. He had already seen the action in his mind. And then …
… no turning back, but instead he went up and over his cryocell, the blue light
illuminating him for just a moment. A burst of shredder pistol fire crossed the dark-
ness, humming in a cloud all around him, liquefying the glass beneath his feet,
and as he leapt he felt the sharp stinging pain of the psyche whip on his back.
A wave of nausea overtook him and instead of fighting it he used it, followed
it down, his body spiraling drunkenly into the space behind his cryocell. He
A NEW SUN
APPENDIX 5
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