38. The Factory War (2)

Slick and Cherry watch the attackers’ hover burning outside Factory while an amplified voice taunts them. Gentry sits transfixed before his holo-table, absorbed by the towering column—the Shape—rising from the chaos of cyberspace. Cherry urges flight; Gentry admits he can’t operate more defenses and cues Bobby Newmark on a monitor.

Cherry furiously warns Bobby he’s dying and must be taken to intensive care, but Bobby remains focused, promising a diversion and hinting that allies are en route to claim the aleph. Slick, shaken and drifting into Korsakov’s lapses, prepares to lead Cherry out with water, food, and minimal gear, resigning himself to leaving Factory and the machines behind.

They crawl toward a low gap to escape, but a sniper fires. Overhead, Bobby’s diversion arrives: a hijacked Borg-Ward cargo drone drops flares and then containers. A crate crashes down, and another loaded with refrigerators crushes the attackers’ second hover, scattering foam and chaos. Slick scrambles back inside, losing the supplies and Cherry in the confusion.

In the darkness of the machine room, Slick’s flashlight catches a figure with mirrored eyes. A woman’s voice orders lights out and warns she’s armed with Fujiwara HE flechettes. She disowns the outside attackers and states her deal: get “somebody” to Bobby Newmark to clear her slate. At gunpoint, she forces Slick to take her to Bobby, while Gentry remains enraptured by the Shape and Bobby’s remote intervention holds off the assault.