Jess lay unconscious in a pale square of sunlight next to her damaged machine. One cheek was scraped raw where she had skid along the black asphalt.The wound on her thigh still pulsed blood. Seven tiny moppets in pink playrompers surrounded her.They tugged and lifted her toward the Cribroom.

DAKOTA STATES

INDUSTRIAL NURSERY---UNIT K

Beneath the sign Logan reconnoitered the metalmesh fence.Twice as tall as a man and capped with a triple strand of microwire.

He climbed an overhanging tree, swung and landed inside the perimeter.He found Jess in the Cribroom.The Crib had tended her wounds and she had recovered.He helped her from the Crib.

Looking around the room he stared in fascination at the Hourglass, at the phosphorescent crystals in the thick globe which gave each infant his birthright-the radioactive timeflower.

An Autogoverness discovered them and set off the alarm. Crib covers snapped down like turtle shells; barriers sprung up through slotted floors, sealing off the wing.

Logan and Jessica slid under a descending barrier, Logan disabling an attacking Autogoverness, and escaping into the playground.

Logan broke into the gate control booth, smashed the panel, and jerked down the release switch.

The gate swung open, grappling a Roboguard, they fled into the woods. See the Animation or duel

CONTINUE

EXIT

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