"Yeah," laughed the one who'd been smoking, "that's more like it. Why don't we see what you've got. I'm sure we can use it, whatever it is."

"My wallet's in the inside pocket," she lied, "let me open my coat."

"Aw, don't strain yourself, darlin', I'll do it for you," said Cigarette, and he proceeded to slowly unbutton her coat.

Her breath sounded harsh and loud as he worked his fingers over the buttons, undoing them one by one. He was standing close. So much the better, she thought, as she waited for him to finish with the third button, at waist level.

He undid it, and looking up at her smiled. "I think that's enough, for now anyway." She smiled back at him, widely, baring her fangs, and shot her lower right fist through the opening of the coat and into his midsection while she stomped on the instep of the assailant behind her with her left foot. Cigarette doubled over from the force of her blow. "What the fuck?!" Meanwhile, the grip on her upper right arm had loosened momentarily. It was enough for her to wrench it free, and shrugging her shoulders, she let the coat fall to her feet. She stretched out her four arms, so there could be no mistake, and turned, so she was facing all three of her attackers, revealed for what she was.

Their faces registered shock, but Knife only hesitated for a moment before he was upon her, driving his blade towards her belly. She grabbed his hands in hers and pulled him towards her, forcing his arms up as she kneed him in the groin. He sagged in her arms and she released him, pushing him from her to fall to the ground, curled into a tight ball of pain.

Redhead ducked to one side, dived and rolled and with a quick jerk, yanked at the coat still lying around her feet. The next thing she knew she was on the ground, and Cigarette, recovered, rushed up and delivered a vicious kick to her head. Her vision blurred momentarily, and her head sang with pain. She rolled away as he was winding up for another kick, but Redhead was there. "I don't know what you are, but you just made a big mistake," and he kicked her too, in the stomach. More kicks came, sharp punctuations of pain in her ribs, her abdomen and her head. She rolled onto her back and grabbed somebody's foot with all four of her hands, twisting his ankle and knocking him off balance. In that brief and partial respite she forced herself to her feet. Redhead closed in again, grabbing for her arms. She let him have the lower two, and with the others grabbed his head, bent it back and with her jaws stretched wide she sank her teeth into the side of his neck. He screamed and something sharp sank into the small of her back. She released Redhead and turned, snarling, her mouth smeared with blood, to face Knife. His eyes widened with fear and she used his moment of hesitation to smash a fist into his face.

"Fuck," someone was screaming, she wasn't sure who, "Let's go." She heard footsteps running away, caught a glimpse of their backs as the three of them fled, one limping, one bleeding. She was bleeding too. In fact, she didn't feel well at all, she thought, as she sank to the ground. She didn't pass out, but only lay there, her face against the dirty cloncrete, staring at a trodden gum wrapper. She should get out of here, she thought, but when she tried to move, everything, and especially that bleeding spot in the small of her back, hurt. She put her hand to it. It didn't seem very big, to be producing so much blood. She tried to keep a hand over it, pressing, to stop the flow, but she kept forgetting. All of this reminded her of something, some other time when she'd lain, beaten, on the ground. What had she done then? When? On that regrettable day at the orphanage. But Hector had rescued her from that place, and now she'd left him.

Footsteps, just one set, approached slowly. She tried to turn and look but pain lanced up her spine and she subsided, closing her eyes. Whoever it was would come, search for a wallet or something valuable, and hopefully leave her alone.

The footsteps stopped, and she felt a hand on her upper right arm. "Are you okay?"

"No."

"I'll call an ambulance."

"No!" she shouted, which made her head hurt. "No doctors, please. I'm all right. I'll be fine. I just need to rest a little, okay? Please, please, just leave me alone."

"But you've been stabbed, possibly in the kidney. You need help."

"No. No, I don't need any help. I'm fine." With the remainder of her strength, Helix forced herself up onto her hands and knees, and then, using the wall, dragged herself to a standing position. Pain arced through her body, and she trembled. "See?" she said to the stranger, who she still had not looked at. "I'm fine. I'm leaving now, see? I'm fine." And she took a step and the pain made her gasp, but she kept her footing, for a moment, until dizziness swooped in from the corners of her vision like the black, confused wings of birds, and she fell, into the arms of this stranger, who as it turned out, was not very big at all. Staggering under her weight, the stranger slowly returned her to the ground.

"Okay," she said. Helix still hadn't gotten a very good look at her face, just a quick blur of small pointed features and something peculiar about the eyes. "Okay, no doctors. I've got a car. It’s not far, I parked it under the overpass on Monroe. I'll go get it, and I'll take you to see someone. Not a doctor, a friend of mine. Hang on." and she took one of Helix's hands, and placed it over the wound in the small of her back. "Keep that there, you don't want to lose any more blood. I'll be right back." And she was, with a rag which she tied around Helix's waist. "I shouldn't be moving you at all, but I can’t get that boat of a car down this alley. Here, give me your arms." and she wrapped Helix's right arms around her shoulder, and with her arm around Helix's waist, gently lifted her up to a standing position and steadied her.

"Wait, my raincoat," said Helix.

"Forget it, you can get another one."

"No, no I need it."

"Then I'll come back for it. Now let's go." And together, they spent the most excruciating ten minutes of Helix's life, getting her out of the alley and into the back seat of the stranger's car. A motor car, a big old convertible with the top down, ancient but still functioning.

Helix stared up at the sky, the night air chill through the fabric of her celluweave bodysuit. "My raincoat!" The stranger sighed, "Okay, hang on."

She was back again in a moment, and she put the now torn and soiled raincoat over Helix, tucking it in on the sides. "Just as well, you need to keep warm."

The car rumbled to noisy life and started to move. Helix didn't ask her where they were going, she just gazed up at the night sky, at the stars spinning far above her.

Chapter 3 — Land of the Giants

She was gone. He knew it as soon as he opened the door and saw the bare hook on the wall where he hung his raincoat. Only then did he notice the tomb-like silence of the empty apartment. He checked her room to make sure, but found nothing more than comic books and dirty clothes, scattered on the floor. Hector Martin wandered the vacant apartment, picking up objects and staring out the windows. She was out there somewhere, in that maze of buildings and streets, clouded over now with night. It wasn't like he hadn't expected it to happen. Hell, he'd hoped it would. But he'd let himself forget it. He'd gotten used to her — attached. Ah, he’d always been attached to her, ever since he found her. He flopped down on the couch and switched on his holotransceiver. He had several messages, announcements of meetings, biotechnical conferences, and one from Nathan Graham, the research and development project manager. He wanted to see Hector in his office tomorrow, to “catch up on developments in the Tetra project.” Catch up, sure, more like to find out why it was six months past due and $10,000 over budget.