_ound

slowed to a stop as he reached the smooth blank wall. CJ could see his shoulders slouch as he recognized defeat. They didn't have to look up to see the opposition, they could hear the march of minitanks bearing down on them.
Lars raised a his huge hand. "No!" he cried, and slammed his fist against the wall with the force of a sledge hammer. The wall paid no attention.
* * *
Selpha watched Lars pound the wall and shared his despair, as did billions of others across the Web. Then she saw Peter sit up suddenly. "Cracks are interesting?" he asked.
Selpha knelt before him. "Yes, Peter, they are the most important thing in the world."
"There's a crack in this wall," he said confidently. "Eight meters right, eight meters down, from the point of impact."
"Thank you." She rushed to her keyboard, brushing tears of relief from her eyes.
* * *
Paolo's detectors generated a high-priority alert on Selpha's announcement. Brief though her statement was, Paolo was already keying the consequences back onto the Web before he finished reading it. "Yes!" he cried with a whoop of delight.
Sofia poked her head into the room. "You all right?"
"We found the Gate!" he exclaimed. Finished typing, he leaped across the room and swept her into his arms for a lingering kiss.
Sofia closed one eye. "I guess that's a 'yes.' " She picked up the kiss where it had left off.
* * *
CJ stared up into Lars' sad face. "Let's take as many of them as we can," she said.
Lars nodded. They turned to face the enemy.
Morgan spoke.