1n1REzE

Peter Watts 132 Blindsight
I jammed the spring line's pad against the wall. I could have
sworn the substrate flinched. I fired my thrust pistol, retreated back
to the center of the passage.
"They're here," James whispered.
Something was. I could feel it always behind me, no matter
where I turned. I could feel some great roaring darkness swirling
just out of sight, a ravenous mouth as wide as the tunnel itself. Any
moment now it would lunge forward at impossible speed and
engulf us all.
"They're beautiful..." James said. There was no fear in her voice
at all. She sounded awestruck.
"What Where" Bates never stopped turning, kept trying to
keep the whole three-sixty in sight at once. The drones under her
command wobbled restlessly to either side, armored parentheses
pointing down the passageway in opposite directions. "What do
you see"
"Not out there. In here. Everywhere. Can't you see it"
"I can't see anything," Szpindel said, his voice shaking.
"It's in the EM fields," James said. "That's how they
communicate. The whole structure is full of language, it's—"
"I can't see anything," Szpindel repeated. His breath echoed loud
and fast over the link. "I'm blind."
"Shit." Bates swung on Szpindel. "How can that—the radiation
—"
"I d-don't think that's it.."
Nine Tesla, and the ghosts were everywhere. I smelled asphalt
and honeysuckle.
"Keeton!" Bates called. "You with us"
"Y-yeah." Barely. I was back at the bell, my hand on the
ripcord. Trying to ignore whatever kept tapping me on the
shoulder.
"Leave that! Get him outside!"
"No!" Szpindel floated helplessly in the passage, his pistol
bouncing against its wrist tether. "No, throw me something."
"What"
It's all in your head. It's all in your—
"Throw something! Anything!"