Hettie heaved a torrent of blood, and she turned over and retched. Her ears rang, her vision blurred. Every muscle screamed with pins and needles.
She pushed up blearily. The world around her rushed in a cloud of light and swirling smoke. The fissure beneath her sister dimmed, closing until she could see Abby once more, floating within the vortex.
Shut down the drill. The directive came from deep, deep down. Nothing would matter unless she did that.
She raised her gun with a shaking, mangled hand, her vision graying out. She had one bullet left. But what to shoot? She didn’t know what part of the Mechanikal engine would cause a fatal breakdown…
It’s all right, she heard a voice. Voices. So many of them…and then she felt hands soft as water gently guiding her aim…
Her muscles tensed, a
