A tap at his multi-tool stilled the Death-Spheres before they loosed particle beams on the befuddled people. Instead, they just floated side by side in a line with dark lenses pointed straight ahead.
Slade started forward.
The woman and the girl were standing in the middle of the road, but they turned to face him when they heard his approach. Flushed and frantic, the woman tried to catch her breath while the girl stared at him with an open mouth.
Closing his eyes, Slade breathed deeply through his nose. “You are frightened,” he said, approaching them. “That is good. Every religion on your miserable little planet has warned that a day would come when humanity would be called to account for its sins.”
The woman backed away.
“That day has come.”
The girl's mouth was a gaping hole, her c
