“Where is she?” Slamm-0! asked.
“Tir Tairngire.” He smiled. “She’s an elf.”
Netcat smirked. “Uh huh.”
The three of them strolled down the sidewalk. The sky was darkening, shifting into a beautiful twilight.
“So, we’re heading to the park? Sakura?” Netcat volunteered.
“Yeah.” Kazuma shoved his hands into his pockets as she looped her other arm through his.
“She did what she had to do, Kazuma,” Netcat continued. “She couldn’t follow you into the resonance. She was already dissonant. She would have corrupted the stream.”
“I know.” He sighed. “In my heart. But my head still wants to know why. Why did she let that happen to herself? If she kept enough of her love of Tolen and me, and wanted to stop Caliban, why not stay…”
“Pure?”
He looked down at her. “Yeah. And I’m still trying to put it all together into a timeline. Maybe one day it won’t all seem so…stupid.”
“She died saving you, saving other technomancers.”
“Not the one she sacrificed in that house. We still don’t know who she was.”
“She was already dying,” Slamm-0! said. “Hitori just forced them to take down most of the ladder, weaken the gestalt.” He paused, and the others paused with him. “Think about what she did. She knew what Powell had done, and she was looking for that switch. But she couldn’t leave Tolen, not in that condition. So she stayed with him, tempering what he did, keeping an eye on Powell, too. I’d almost bet you that Hitori was responsible for those blackouts because without them, more technomancers would have been caught, they’d have gotten further on that ladder. She knew what the conditions had to be, because she knew Tolen.”
“I don’t think she wanted to live without him.” Netcat patted his upper arm. “She knew if she got into an autodoc, it might have saved her. But she didn’t take that risk. Instead, she saved you.”
Kazuma looked at the two of them and thought of all those weekends, weeknights, and holidays she’d started missing with him and their grandmother after she showed back up. She had probably been spending them with Tolen.
Hitori had been in love.
It was a nice consolation.
“So, what’re you gonna do now?” Slamm-0! asked.
“I don’t know. We’ll see. I’m gonna stay with Hestaby for a while, see if I can help get us more organized. Build up GiTm0 more. What about you?”
She shrugged. “Eat?”
They laughed as they headed down the road.
“Anyone seen Mack or Delaney?” Netcat asked.
“Oh…” Slamm-0! said quietly. “I don’t think we’re going to see much of either of them while we’re here…”
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
SHADOWRUN: DARK RESONANCE
Cover art by Victor Manuel Leza Moreno
Design by Matt Heerdt
©2014-15 The Topps Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Shadowrun & Matrix are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Productions LLC. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the Copyright Owner, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.
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Table of Contents
Dark Resonance
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two
Chapter Forty-three
Chapter Forty-four
Chapter Forty-five
Chapter Forty-six
Chapter Forty-seven
Chapter Forty-eight
Chapter Forty-nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-one
Chapter Fifty-two
Chapter Fifty-three
Chapter Fifty-four
Chapter Fifty-five
Chapter Fifty-six
Chapter Fifty-seven
Chapter Fifty-eight
Chapter Fifty-nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-one
Chapter Sixty-two
Chapter Sixty-three
Chapter Sixty-four
Chapter Sixty-five
Chapter Sixty-six
Chapter Sixty-seven
Chapter Sixty-eight
Chapter Sixty-nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter Seventy-one
Chapter Seventy-two
Chapter Seventy-three
Chapter Seventy-four
Chapter Seventy-five
Chapter Seventy-six
Chapter Seventy-seven
Chapter Seventy-eight
Epilogue
Legal
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