Ulrich's clearly thinking much the same thing, given the shade of red his face is going. "Hey, man -- look, I got nothing to do with those bastards. They're hanging me out here too. I'll come quiet, okay?"

He is, at least, gulping down deep breaths in between every few words.

"Time to go," River says softly to the wall. She's obeying Duo, deep breaths to flood her system as much as possible while there's enough air to do it.





Click goes something inside the codebreaker, and with a low rumble of machinery the doors begin sliding into recesses in the floor and ceiling.