EXCERPTS
...from the beginning of chapter 1
Death waited for me around the corner.
An alien, a killer, a nightmare out of the darkest of all nightmares, desired my death. It knew where I waited just as I knew where it waited. The sensors on our armored suits revealed where we were to each other, because we both had our defensive energy screens powered up. We knew each other's location. We even knew how dedicated we were to killing each other. We just didn't know what the other was going to do next.
The alien probably had a name, just as I did. But it didn't know my name nor did I know its name. Whatever a human was in its language was what it knew me as. I knew it as a Gorgon, named after the ancient Greek monster its race resembled.
...from the beginning of chapter 18
I fell faster than I imagined possible.
And as I fell, I started wobbling as the air pushed up against my deactivated antigrav disc. I lost stability. It felt like I might flip over and that could be fatal. As strong and powerful as my armored suit was, I couldn't survive a fall from more than one hundred stories up.
The street flew up at me. Or, rather, I flew down at it.
RC looked up and saw me shooting like a giant bullet down at him. He screamed, "Lion!"
I snapped my grav disc back on. It's antigrav field energized and my descent slowed. I managed to restore my flight attitude. As I straightened out, I began curving out of my fall into a more horizontal path. RC ducked as I zipped over him, coming to a stop several meters beyond him.
...from chapter 33
The two aliens weren't armored, though one of them carried a plasma rifle connected to a power pack on its back.
The other appeared unarmed. It moved closer. As it approached, I saw small axes in the upper pair of its rubbery-looking arms. The lower pair dangled by its body.
I kept from moving, but I felt sweat on my forehead. If they noticed my sweat, then I was dead.
After a moment, the axe-bearing Gorgon turned and headed toward the opening. The other one let it pass. Then it aimed its rifle at me!
A faint buzzing sound came from outside. The nightmare lowered its weapon, turned and exited.
I almost breathed again, but held my breath and listened. I heard movement outside. They moved away. I remained motionless under RC's stinking body until the light changed. Evening approached.
Sliding RC off of me, I rolled over. Gathering up my knife and my meager belongings, I checked on RC. I still couldn't tell if he were alive or dead.