For this monster, they had felt sure, was now nothing but an inanimate
shell of armor, since Balcom was dead.
Yet here it was, stalking toward them and evidently as bent on
destruction as ever.
What did it mean?
In an instant Locke had helped Eva through an open window and turned to
assist Zita. But Doctor Q forestalled him and had already taken her in
his arms and had fled with her into another room.
For the moment Locke was surprised to see that the Automaton totally
ignored him. Instead, it stalked to the door and wrenched it open.
There, cowering in the hall, in abject terror, was De Luxe Dora.
How and why she had come there was a mystery. But the Automaton did not
hesitate. It raised its hands and, as it did so, long flashes of blue
flame leaped from the steel finger-tips toward the unfortunate woman.
Once she shrieked, then crumpled and fell dead.
The monster then turned its attention to Locke, striding toward him with
a menacing gesture. But the diversion due to Dora had given all just the
time they needed to make good their flight. Locke threw a chair to
impede the progress of the monster, and then, as he saw that all the
others were safe, he lightly vaulted out of the window himself, to find
them waiting for him in the little yard below.
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