There had always been those who – when they felt a sneeze impending – would look for a sharp light, to help trigger it.

And then there were all the others, the rest of humanity, who thought that the first group were liars.

It wasn’t till we finally arrived at level twenty, that some grasped the reason for it all.

The vampire recoiled with a backward leap, her look of shocked surprise mixed with disgust.

Well, after all, her mouth had been open, taking the full brunt. Expressing some vestige of her former, mortal fastidiousness, Lieutenant Morell’s expression was one of offended revulsion, even though she had been preparing to suck out my life’s blood.

That countenance shifted rapidly as I blinked hard, shaking off her predatory trance. The demmie Nomort coughed, gagged, then spat… and finally snarled.

“Very… clever, Professor. But that only bought you a few seconds to—”

Gala stopped. A growing look of puzzlement spread across her aristocratic Nomort features, even as I felt sensation returning to my limbs.

She took a step toward me, hands reaching out…

A startled expression suddenly took over, as she stopped again. Then, the former demmie officer screamed.

She did more than scream. Gala clawed at her throat, at her shoulders and chest. Thrashing and shrieking, she plunged about the balcony, striking a wall, caroming off my shoulder, shattering one of the glass doors, then colliding with the nearby stone railing. Teetering dangerously, she clutched at a leering gargoyle, that first took her weight… then betrayed it, crumbling to dust and toppling with her over the precipice.

Too late, my reflexes kicked in. I managed to shoot an arm out, grabbing to save her, managing to grip the cloak – which tore away from her as she let out a final screech, plummeting into empty space.

Still sluggish, I couldn’t reach the edge in time to follow Gala’s plunge, though her wail reverberated through the urban canyonscape. By the time I could look, she had vanished into the gloom below – whether caught by some net, splatted on pavement, or else grabbing some last-moment escape, I had no way to tell.

Damn, I really wanted to ask her about the others… about Guts and Nuts and Captain Ohm.

About a strange life cycle that includes the parasitic undead.

Or if she knew anything about the fate of Clever Gamble… or what any of this has to do with Crewman Wems.

Now? I would have to start investigating for myself. Only this time, I was determined not to be sidetracked by anything!

There only seemed to be one way out of here, a desperate and dangerous path, retracing the Nomort’s route in getting here. Cautiously, I reached out and tested the slender cable that the former Lieutenant Morell had used as a highway through the sky to reach my balcony.