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STARTLING STORIES
cobbled together from many instruments. Ancient electrical circuitry, most of it black-ened and gummy with the ages, was heaped in cabinet shelves. Then I looked back at the mechanical spider. Its eyes seemed to be camera lens, revolving over its mandibles as it watched me.
“Did you build that machine there?” I asked, nodding at the spider. “It looks new.”
“I did not,” Angelina said. She looked at Calli. “Can he be trusted?”
“He can,” Calli said. “So my feelings tell me.”
“I thought so,” Angelina said. “But his appearance is off-putting. Have the steel-skulls been toying with him?”
“Most perceptive,” I said. “I only just es-caped from them, with Calli’s help. They did me no real harm—they didn’t have a chance for the surgery.”
Calli’s voice was hoarse as she
