"Stay where you are," said the laptop. "You are surrounded by lethal weapons!"

Something small and black sidled out of the darkness.

"I saw one of those on Gilman Drive." Miri took a step toward it. The robot turned toward her. There was a metallic click that sounded very much like a round being chambered.

"Miri — " Robert held her arm, but Tommie was coming around from the other side and the robot turned toward him.

Parker stopped about seven feet from the critter. Some of his old cockiness returned. "I'll bet it's just a network-superiority bot. Most of the pay-load is communications and counternode gear. It's not much use all by itself."

"There are hundreds on the floor," said the laptop. "Don't force us to act."

Miri slipped loose of Robert. "I didn't see any others," she said, moving closer to the robot.

Mysterious Stranger –> Robert: There's only the one, but

And then several things happened at once: Robert pulled Miri behind him. Tommie stepped forward in a fencer's lunge that brought his spray can within a foot of the mech. The robot flipped up like a sprung rat trap. Tommie screamed and fell forward.

Robert ran toward the robot and grabbed — hard air. The hardened froth was barely visible, but it held the robot beyond his reach. He spun the gel around, looking for some point closer to the enemy. There! He slammed the carapace into the concrete floor. Again. It was in pieces now, each still embedded in the mist. There was sound of tiny motors, whining to be free. Then Miri and Carlos were stomping on what remained. Sparks flew within the mist, and Robert felt a tingling that raised the hairs on his arms.

And then the robot was just dead composites, the pieces hanging motionless in blocks of invisible fluff.

The only sound was Tommie gasping. Winnie had rolled the little guy on his side. Tommie's face was bluish, his mouth a gaping grimace of pain.

"What happened, Tommie?"

Parker's back arched. "Bastard… fried… my pacemaker."

Carlos was on his knees. He touched Tommie's shoulder. "Wómen shāsi le nàgè jīqìrén . We killed the robot, Dr. Parker."

Tommie grunted acknowledgment, even as he rocked back and forth on the ground.

"We'll get you out of here, Tommie," said Blount. He looked up at Robert. "No more games."

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: Oh, damn. Parker was such an interesting wannabe. Okay, I'll help you get him out. And if you help me after that, I can still make good on my part of the bargain. How's that?

Robert looked past the greenish letters and nodded to Winston Blount. "No more games."

Tommie still lay twisting in pain. His voice came out between spasms. "Keycard… in my pocket."

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: Heh. Magical me, that ancient keycard will actually work. My little surprise present for Alfred.

The voice from the laptop — Alfred? — was silent.

Carlos looked down at where the laptop sat on the concrete floor. "We should break this. It's the eye of the enemy."

Miri walked around the antique computer. "I think if we pull the plug on that fiber, the bad guys are gone."

"Yup… unplugit!"

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: Hey wait. Where do you think I'm coming from! So what if Alfred can still snoop? It's me you need. If you cut me off then well damn I'll have to

Miri picked up the laptop and turned it on edge. She studied the unfamiliar physical connectors for a moment, then reached down —

Mysterious Stranger — > Robert: I hate Miri.

— and popped the optical fiber out of the laptop.

For a moment they grinned at each other like idiots. Tommie squeezed out a weak laugh. "We're… off the leash." He gasped for a few seconds. "Gotta carry me, guys… Sorry. I'll… show you the exit."

Winnie looked down at Tommie. "We'll get you out, Tommie. You'll be okay." He lifted Parker under the shoulders, then reached to support him under the knees. Parker didn't weigh that much, but Blount was staggering.

Robert reached out. "I can carry him, Winnie."

Blount glared back, and Robert shut up. Then Winnie's hands slipped and Tommie almost crashed to the ground. "I got him, I got him!"

Miri ran around Blount and slipped her hands under where he was holding Tommie's left arm. Winnie didn't object; maybe it was because she didn't ask. Robert took both legs and they started off along the wall. Carlos followed, carrying the cutter and what other gear might still be of use.

Nothing more followed, nothing they could see. For what it might be worth, Robert's dumb little waist box showed only utility glimmers in the empty cavern.

Tommie's breathing was a raspy wheeze. Every few paces he twisted within their grasp. "About hundred yards more…" He shuddered and went limp.

"Tommie?" Winston hesitated, bringing them almost to a halt.

"Keep going… keep going." And then after a moment, "So our Librareome protest was… fraud from the beginning, huh?"

"I don't know, Tommie. I knew it was silly, but it seemed worthwhile." Blount looked across at Robert. "I thought it would lead to something I really want."

"Me too," said Carlos, his voice faint. "In the end, Sharif-whoever got to all of us, didn't he?"

"All but Tommie."

Miri was watching the back-and-forth silently, but her eyes were wide. Well, she had earned the right to listen.

Robert said, "So what did he promise you, Winston?"

Winnie's lips pulled back from his teeth. "I sure as hell won't tell you." He hesitated and the snarl became a twisted smile. "But I bet I know what your deal-with-the-devil was." When Robert didn't reply, Blount's smile broadened and he continued, "You tried to disguise it, Gu. All the times we met in the library, and never once did you pull your old tricks. At first I just figured you were setting me up for one of your extreme traps. After I learned about Sharif, I thought maybe you were running him ." Winnie laughed. "But then I began to suspect the truth. You've lost your killer edge, the way you could look inside people and see what would hurt them the most, and then do it to them. You've lost that, haven't you, Robert?"

Robert lowered his head. "Yes." The word came out softly, without anger, almost a sigh.

"And I bet you can't write poetry anymore, either."

"It's the poetry I want back, Winnie."

"Oh."

Tommie twisted in their grasp, trying to suck in breath. "Shut up… the north gate should be in… next hundred feet."

They walked in silence, eyes straining for some sign on the unmarked wall.

And now that Robert was looking, he saw something else. Not more green lettering, but a blinking icon that meant pending mail. One last message before Miri had cut the fiber link. Almost without thinking, he shifted his grip on Tommie's leg, and tapped a go-ahead on his waist box.

A pdf, by God . He hadn't seen anything like this since his teaching days. The table of contents floated in the air above him. The critic in him couldn't resist scanning down the page. The ToC was impeccably formatted, with perfect spelling (at least, if you ignored context). The bullet headers were a mishmash of unparallel constructions and grammatical infelicities. It looked as if it had been thrown together by a gang of par-aliterates in a hell of a hurry.

But what it said was… important:

FIXME: This needs to be replaced with proper formatting, actually doable, but not now.

While We are out of Touch

or

How to Survive and Prosper during the Next Thirty Minutes

by Your Friend, the Mysterious Stranger Dedication:

To the idiots among you who cut the fiber link. Now Alfred can't see you, but I'm cut off, too. Hence, I'm breaking my stealthy cover and shipping down this bolus of bits before Miri pops the connector.