Page 34 - Adam 2

the girl Runa hurtled round the steps and saw him. “Argh!” she shrieked. The older human, Linden, came
round, too, and crashed into Runa.
“Keep going!” ze shouted, then looked up and saw
Adam, and stopped.
Adam gave his widest, friendliest smile. “Hello again,”
he said.
The one named Linden recoiled. Ze pointed the EMP
stick at him and he flinched. “Don’t move!”
Adam didn’t know how to respond. “Hello,” he said again, although that didn’t seem to be working. The human Linden held a torch in hir other hand and swept it over the wall next to him, at the emergency exit hatch.
“Get away from there!” ze snapped.
Adam hesitated. “You said not to move,” he said.
“Should I move now?” Was there a problem with his smile? he wondered. Were the lips not working? The stairs were still clanging. “Is someone else coming?”
Linden stabbed the EMP stick towards Adam. “MOVE!”
Adam moved back. The other one, Runa, ran to the hatch and scrabbled at its edges.
“I can’t open it!” she shouted. Her hands swept dust off the surface and found a blank side panel. “There’s a security lock!”
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