They hammered me with metal fists and rammed me with the metal treads of their feet. The pain was so intense I couldn’t even shame myself into silence. I covered my head with my hands to protect it. I couldn’t afford scrambled brains. The rest of my body could withstand an awful lot of abuse, but not my head. They’d had enough sense to pull me back far enough in the alley so there was less chance of any Newcitizen coming to investigate the scuffling and the grunts. Though if anyone did come to see what was going on, I was sure that once they saw it wasn’t a mènage but a beating, they’d disappear pretty fast. The internal hard drive partition I’d told Declan about was worthless, most of the time. Now it allowed me to separate my mind from the pain being inflicted on me, so I could think. Secbots are big, and they’re strong, but they’re not smart. They rely on causing so much immediate and encompassing pain their victim is unable to respond.
