Don't!" he had time to shout, but the gun was already in the woman's mouth and an instant later, as Horza started to duck and his eyes closed instinctively, the back of Gow's helmet blew out in a single pulse of unseen light, throwing a sudden red cloud over the mossy wall behind. Horza sat down on his haunches, hands closed round the gun barrel in front of him, eyes staring out at the distant jungle. What a mess, he thought, what a fucking, obscene, stupid mess. He hadn't been thinking of what Gow had just done to herself, but he looked round at the red stain on the angled wall and the collapsed shape of Gow's suit, and thought it again.
( Iain M. Banks )
[ Consider Phlebas ]
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