The Exosuit marched ever forward, thump, thump, thump. It’s claw manipulator shattered peripherals and gauges and screens. It reached up and tore a fresh air duct down, severing a steam pipe, and ripping free a power line that hit the deck sparking and smoking, throwing out a six-inch tongue of flame before its breakers cut the juice.

The deck house was plunged into darkness.

The only light came from the red EXIT sign over the rear door, the emergency deck lights shining dimly through the ports, and the ever-present strobing of the suit’s halogens which made everything jump with shadows and jerky, surreal illumination. Its beams were filled with smoke and mist.

As Orr hobbled drunkenly toward the rear exit, he called out to Anderson again. The kid became confused in the flashing lights. He started in Orr’s direction, fell over a chair, got to his feet and rammed right into a footlocker, which put him on his ass again. Then, despite Orr’s shouts, he cut away and ducked through the archway across the room that led to the sleeping quarters.

“No! You fucking idiot, you’re bottling yourself up!”

But Anderson did not hear him. The Exosuit advanced, then it turned, following Anderson. It bashed through the archway, tearing the metal trim free. Anderson began to scream, but there wasn’t a damn thing Orr could do to help him. The deckhouse shook and creaked, the suit smashing through bulkheads and tearing doors from hinges.

Orr went through the rear exit and out onto the deck. He moved aft, trying to come up with a plan, anything. The cable car would be here in a matter of minutes and if that damn suit was still on the rampage, it would destroy it and nobody would ever leave.

Think! For the love of God, use your fucking brain!

As he hobbled his way aft, his back filled with white spikes of agony, he saw one of the portholes on the deckhouse get thrown open. And there came Anderson—shrieking, squealing, half out of his mind—but he squirmed through the port. He was a skinny little guy that probably barely weighed 130. He twisted and eeled his way out, falling to the deck as the Exosuit smashed into the cabin behind him.

He’s going to make it, Orr thought, leaning up now against the shaking wall of a toolshed. He’s really going to make it.

The outer bulkhead behind Anderson was hit with immense force, a huge bulge appearing in the sheet metal. Another appeared as it was rammed again. Anderson wriggled across the deck. There was a screeching, ear-splitting noise behind him as the Exosuit’s industrial saw bit into the metal wall. It cut right through it, throwing a fountain of orange sparks and fiery ejecta. Then the bulkhead came apart, crashing to the deck and the Exosuit crashed through.