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IN
SHADOWS
By
Amy Janette Hobby
© copyright by Amy Janette Hobby, May 2010
Cover Art by Alex DeShanks, May 2010
ISBN 978-1-60394-430-4
New Concepts Publishing
Lake Park, GA 31636
www.newconceptspublishing.com
This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are
of the author's imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or
events is merely coincidence.
Prologue
The Planet Magaera -- Southern Underground Provence
Year: 2443
The job of the Chief Court Judge, for the southern underground
provinces, was never easy, but on this day, those duties were more difficult than ever. Judge
Jeronas Fells stared down at the letter before him and sighed. History would forever record that
the fate of the family De Lornes had been in his hands alone. In his gut, he knew this decision was
wrong, but he had no choice. The deed was done and the punishment decided. Now an unforeseen and
dire accident, would hold a price far too great to bear, a price that would be paid in full by even
the De Lornes children themselves. The very least he could do, was spare their lives. He cleared
his throat and addressed the man before him and the closest friend he'd ever known.
"Kyros De Lornes, you and your family are an abomination to the
struggling inhabitants of Magaera. You and your children are hereby sentenced to a life of
solitude, never to have contact with others again."
At his words, pandemonium broke out across his courtroom. Most
seemed happy with the outcome, but a few were shouting in anger up at him. One person remained
quiet. The lady De Lornes, stood passively by her husband's side, unaware of her surroundings,
having already paid a steep price for her husband's mistake.
"We are not an abomination Jeronas!" Kyros shouted up at him "They
are gifts that we all share, a set of unique skills that we are all capable of! These skills could
one day save us, if used correctly. The people must be taught the old ways again."
"Only death and corruption come from the old ways, my friend. I am
sorry, but it is done Kyros. It is done."
Eight years later
Fourteen year-old Sorrensia De Lornes looked around the
underground tunnel that she and her brothers had been following for the last two hours. She frowned
and glanced back at her brothers, Kyranos and Kylos in question. Kyranos gave a slight shake of his
head, silently telling her to be quiet, as the three siblings continued to follow the officer
through the winding tunnel, which was becoming ever steeper with every step they took.
The moment Sorren turned her head Kylos looked over at his older
brother and pointed up. Kyranos tightened his features and looked away. He knew his brother and
sister were not stupid, but he still couldn't find it within him to validate their suspicions. They
were being put to death for the crimes of their parents.
Superstition mixed with flawed religious ideals led to the twisted
belief that in sacrificing the children of the convicted they might all somehow be saved. Kyranos
fought back anger. Just this morning he'd held his mothers hand as she lay dying. Two months
before, their father had also succumbed to the same disease, a disease that the people called
Skottos, meaning death and darkness in the old language. In his mind it didn't matter what it was
called, because the end result was always the same, death. Skottos was slowly killing off the
entire population of Magaera.
For eight years, his father's old friend kept them banished in an
underground prison, but he also kept them alive, but no more. At the time of his parent's arrest,
the disease was just starting to make people ill, but eight years later it had exploded into an
unstoppable and full blown epidemic. The fatal and seeming incurable disease dealt a harsh blow to
the already struggling inhabitants of Magaera. No one was immune to it, not even Judge Fells, who
just a week before, died of the same mysterious illness that took his parents. His death sealed the
fate of the De Lornes children. Hell, Kyranos was surprised they even waited for the final passing
of his mother.
Moments later his suspicion was proved right as all three of the
siblings were forcibly shoved out of the safe confines of the tunnel system, into the noxious,
freezing air at the planet surface. They huddled together, knowing that they had mere moments left
to live. All hope abandoned they waited to die. Out of the howling wind, a thunderous roar from
overhead drew Kyranos's gaze up into the poisoned sky. Through burning eyes, he made out the form
of a small flyer coming up on them and smiled. They had taken his life from him eight years ago for
something beyond his ability to control and now they wanted to kill him and everything dear to him.
Surely to hell they could spare a damn flyer in payment for all they had taken from the De Lornes
family.
"Phase-shift to that flyer when I say!" he shouted to the others
over the wind.
"We've never done it with a moving object before," Sorren shouted
back with an anxious expression. Kyranos caught her frightened gaze and pointed up as he shouted
back at her in determination and anger.
"Sorren, either we die trying to live, or we die giving
up...Now!"
The three De Lornes children vanished from the surface of Magaera
that day and swore never to return, but such promises are often the very hardest to
keep.
Chapter One
Earth's Orbit January 12, 2461 on board the new Galactic Coalition
Space Station -- The Aither
Mark Andrews sat on the floor, with his back to the corridor wall
on trade level, nursing a serious hangover. He was too exhausted to do his security detail, but had
little choice in the matter. Captain Rains, their new head of security, wouldn't take 'hangover' as
an adequate excuse for ditching a shift. The man was such a tight ass he probably wouldn't grant an
unscheduled leave except for loss of life and limb. He'd have their lifeless bodies all propped up
at their stations, rather than let them take a day off.
He reached up and rubbed his blood shot eyes and gave a huge yawn,
before taking a careful swallow of his steaming hot coffee. Of course Rains would have a shit fit,
if he caught him with the drink, but he didn't think the man would drag his ass down to trade
level. Most security officers hated to do shifts on trade, because it was so slow, but Mark didn't
mind in the least. That just gave him time alone to recover from his all nighter. He grinned to
himself. His punishment was to work a shift on trade level, instead of the brig. He was supposed to
feel like his hands got good and smacked. He was still smiling over his good fortune, when his
thoughts were interrupted in the most startling fashion, as a woman appeared out of nowhere, to
stand right before him.
"What the hell!" Mark jumped to his feet and then gave a shout of
pain, as his coffee splashed over the front of his uniform. He looked right and then left and for
lack of anything better to say, he asked what was in his mind the most pertinent
question.
"Who … who the hell are you?"
The angry shout was the first thing Sorrensia De Lornes heard, as
she appeared on the acquisition and trade level of the brand new, massive space station orbiting
over the tiny blue planet called, Earth.
Surprised, but not in any way stupid, she ignored his question and
turned and ran for it. It was a damn misfortune that she had to run in opposite direction of the
very thing she came here to steal out from under the Earthlings.
"You said the level was clear!" Her personal communication device
at her ear sent her words straight to her big brother. She swerved to the right, down another
corridor, to avoid a security officer who rounded the corner in front of her. Paying no attention
to her whereabouts, she ran full out, turning in and out of the long curving corridors that made up
the large circular trade level of the Space Station.
Her brother responded back, through a wash of static. "It was
clear! Draw them off, but stay out of reach until you can phase out, Kylos and I will lift the
larosite."
Sorren sighed, but nodded to herself in resignation and put more
speed into her limbs, "Why am I always the one having to run my ass off," she muttered to herself
and glanced over her shoulder to find the way clear.
Sorren grinned, quite happy with herself for outwitting her
pursuers, when without warning, she slammed head-long into someone. They both crashed to the ground
hard enough to knock the breath out of her. She groaned and shook her head, trying to get her
bearings back and then froze, as slow, easy laughter came from the person beneath her. An unwilling
shiver of awareness raced over her at the deep masculine tone.
Sorren raised her head and glared down into a pair of gorgeous
dark blue eyes, streaked through with tiny silver specks. She took a deep, steadying breath, as she
got her first good look at the man and realized her predicament. The man was huge, his size
rivaling her brothers. A man far too gorgeous for his own good, with the most amazing eyes she'd
ever seen. At least he wasn't wearing an officer's uniform though.
He stared up at her, his arms wrapped around her, from where he'd
placed them when they fell. His gaze turned appreciative, as he stared into her face, taking in her
unique features.
"Well I'll be damned," he muttered to himself and tightened his
hold on her. "You are pretty as hell." Sorren gaped down at him, speechless and then groaned at his
next words. "What makes your eyes glow like that?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she stated emphatically,
in a tone that brooked no argument, a tone that usually worked with everyone, save Kyranos. It
didn't appear to work on him either, since he smirked up at her and shook his head in the
negative.
"No, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. Your heart
is racing darling, and those lovely eyes are having issues meeting mine, so I'm thinking that it's
either anger or attraction that makes them spark like that," he said and grinned when she turned a
lovely shade of scarlet.
"That's what I thought,' he said with such an engaging smile that
Sorren almost smiled back before she caught herself. She had to get away from this man, right now.
She went to get up and found that she couldn't move. She stared back down at him and
frowned.
"Let … me … go," she said, putting as much force into the words as
she could, in case he was stupid enough to not understand the danger he was in.
He tilted his head to the side and gazed at her with open
curiosity, "Where were you were running off to in such a hurry sweetheart."
"None of your business and I'm not your sweetheart." Once again
she tried to break his hold on her, but he wasn't letting go. Instead, he continued to grin and
then the jackass had the audacity to wink at her.
Sorren's mouth dropped open once more in surprise. She couldn't
help herself, "Who the hell are you?"
"Captain Jonas Sanchez and you are?" he replied in a cocky tone.
Before she could figure out an appropriate response, a loud explosion echoed through the entire
level. She jerked her head up and stared down the corridor ahead and then whipped her head back to
look back behind her, when running footsteps and angry shouts met her ears. A loud authoritative
voice boomed out over the ship's com. "Security breach, Level Seven … Trade!"
She froze in his arms and met his gaze. Sorren caught her breath,
as his dark blue eyes, filled with outright suspicion, as they zeroed in on her features. His sharp
gaze seemed to penetrate her deepest thoughts and she had a distinct and sinking feeling that this
was a man who missed nothing. Sorren sighed and shook her head.
"Sorry about this Jonas Sanchez," she muttered with genuine
regret, but she certainly wasn't going to sit in his lap and wait for him to work out the details
of who might have instigated the security breach. She did the only thing that she could do under
the circumstances, and punched him full in the face. The ploy worked, as he was momentarily stunned
enough to relax his grip. He shouted an angry curse and reached up to rub at his throbbing lip.
Free of him at last, she jumped to her feet and ran off down the corridor.
Jonas shook his head at his own stupidity as he dragged himself up
the wall and watched her run away from him. He stifled a shout of laughter and shook his head in
disbelief, when she quickly glanced back at him, with an engaging grin and shouted, "You're gonna
want to get some ice on that Sanchez!"
Thirty minutes later
The Bridge of the Larosite
Jonas exited the lift and made his way to the communication
station, where he pulled up a private link to station security. "Get me Rains right now!" he
demanded.
He waited a good five minutes and was about to start shouting
again, when the voice of Ian Rains came across sounding very annoyed. "I have a situation down here
Sanchez. You're going to have to wait."
"I ran into your little situation earlier. The little bitch decked
me!" Static met his response and he leaned in closer to the console. Muffled shouts filtered over
to him, ending with a sudden shout of disbelief that came from Rains himself.
"All of it? She stole all of it? That's not possible!"
"What's going on? Do you have her? Damn it! Do you have her?"
Jonas slammed his fist down on the console, as he shouted.
"No I don't have her! She up and disappeared into thin air, in
front of about twelve of my security officers!" Rains shouted back, his voice filled with
frustrated anger.
Jonas blinked down at the console in confusion. He had to have
misunderstood that last part, but just to be sure, "When you say disappeared…."
"I mean she fucking disappeared!" There was a long pause, in which
Jonas shook his head in denial. Why did this strange shit always happen around him? He couldn't
have a normal life, where things behaved as they were supposed to?
"Sanchez, there's more. She took the shipment you were supposed to
be picking up. I think we're dealing with The Shadow here. She somehow managed to lift Jason's
shipment of raw larosite with almost no effort." The comment was given in such a reluctant manner
that it would have been comical under any other circumstances. But Jonas was not amused. He dropped
his head into his hands and gave a dry, sarcastic laugh.
"Of course she did. How much did she get?" he asked, already
trying to work up a feasible explanation for his brother in law. One that didn't involve admitting
he'd been done in by a girl.
"Weren't you listening? She got it all!"
"Go check again you idiot! It was going to take all four of us to
load up that shipment," Jonas responded back. He was losing his patience at a rate that usually
only Mareah was able to match.
"It's empty okay? I'm in here right now and hell if I can figure
it out, but it's all gone! She had to have help and we never even saw them."
Jonas closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the chair.
Jason was going to kick his ass for this and damn if he didn't have it coming. He'd had the little
thief sitting in his damn lap and all he had to show for it was a hard on!
"Seeing as this is sort of personal, you think maybe you could
take her on as a bounty? I know you quit but...." his voice trailed off and Jonas laughed again, he
couldn't help it. It was either laugh, or beat the living shit out of someone.
"I need everything you have on her, any personal information, her
ship identification, the direction her ship went … a fucking name!" The last part was bellowed into
the comm. Unit, as Jonas lost his temper. There was another long pause.
"No one has anything on the Shadow, you know that! Also, we had
maintenance yesterday and they screwed some things up. We lost most of our computer systems,
including all sensors in and around the time she came aboard. We got nothing."
"You lost all sensors around the same time you were getting jacked
up by a girl? Is that right?" Jonas asked, in an overly calm manner, before exploding outright, "Do
you have shit for brains? This was not a maintenance screw up you moron!"
"Fuck you Sanchez! It's not like you held onto her any better! Do
you want the damn bounty or not!"
Jonas sighed to himself. He was right. He hadn't done any better
with her. "Yeah, I'll take your damn bounty off your hands," he muttered and then disconnected the
link, only to look up into the curious faces of his bridge crew. Of course they had the good sense
to look away, but not Mai Ling.
She grinned at him, "The Shadow is a girl and she decked you? I
can't wait to meet her." Mai rose and walked over to him as she spoke. When she reached his side,
she dropped a med cloth and cold pack, from his own medical bay into his lap. "Better get some ice
on that, flyboy."
Jonas scowled at her, "Fuck off Mai." All the same, he grabbed up
the cold pack and placed it over his busted lip anyway and with a miserable sigh, he went about
contacting Jason.
Three hours later on board the Hesper
The De Lornes siblings stood in a half circle around the largest
shipment of raw larosite any of them had ever seen. Sorren tilted her head to the side, as she bit
down on her bottom lip, an inquisitive look in her eyes. "What do you think he was going to do with
so much larosite?"
"Who cares, it's ours now," Kyranos said with a grin and tweaked
his sister on her nose. She swatted his hand away and frowned. Kyranos looked over at his brother,
Kylos and rolled his eyes as he mouthed, here we go again.
Kylos grinned "Trust me kid, there is no one out there that needs
this shipment more than we do."
Sorren sighed and nodded in reluctant agreement, "I know that. I
just hate stealing from people. I keep expecting dad to pop in and knock our heads together for
this. I think mom would have even been disappointed."
No one said anything at first and in the silence was the harsh
reminder of all they'd lost. Sorren dropped her head down to hide the tears that
threatened.
Kylos wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on the crown
of her head. "We steal so that the people have a fighting chance at life."
"They imprisoned us and led us up to the surface to die! Why do
they get a fighting chance at life? We risk everything to help them and for what?" Kyranos said
bitterly, his eyes sparking with a fiery green with uncontrolled emotions.
Kylos opened his mouth to answer, but Kyranos cut him short. "Oh
forget it. I'm just here for the stupid ride. I watch your ass and keep my mouth shut about the
why's of this insane space trip through hell."
Sorren laid a calming hand across his arm. "Mom and dad would have
done the same thing, no matter the ignorant way they were treated by our people."
"Not my fucking people," Kyranos muttered and turned his back to
them.
Kylos watched him, his expression dark with worry. "We cannot let
them fall. Don't you get it? They are us and when they are gone, we won't be far behind! The outer
camps would go first and the city would fall shortly there after. The sickness would be the least
of their problems after that."
The brothers failed to see Sorren's momentary stricken expression
at his final words. His sister and her fears unknown to him, Kyranos gave a frustrated growl and
glared at them. "For heaven's sake, cheer the hell up, before I put you both out of my misery!" He
turned and pointed down to the shipment, "This will keep your little city going for at least six
moon cycles and it will give me a break, so let's celebrate damn it!"
Kylos grinned and shook his head, his worries momentarily
forgotten. "Actually you're wrong about that," he said, giving them a cocky smirk and pulled out
the hand-held computer that never left his side.
Kyranos slapped his brother on the back, relieved for the change
in conversation. "Hell yeah, now that's what I want to hear! Thrill me with numbers little
brother!"
Sorren rolled her eyes. "Yeah, how long before I have to run my
ass off for you guys again?" Sorren said happily, her laughter joining in with her brothers easy
teasing.
"One second," Kylos muttered, as he knelt down and opened the
biggest crate and scanned the larosite. He shook his head and tapped the screen several times, as
he mumbled incoherently to himself. After a moment he dropped the handheld limply to his side and
looked up at them in shock.
"This stuff has been refined," he muttered and looked back down at
the shipment in confusion. He shook his head again and rescanned the shipment.
"So what if it's refined. That just saves us time later." Kyranos
knelt down beside his brother and tried to grab the hand-held from him, but Kylos snatched it
away.
"No you don't understand. On the outside it looks raw, but on the
inside it has been refined upwards to sixty-eight percent." Kylos scratched his head and stood up,
"I don't get it."
"Wait, sixty-eight, Kylos are you sure?" Sorren asked slowly, the
shock clearly evident in her voice, as her heart skipped a beat in excitement.
Kyranos looked between the two of them and finally threw his hands
up, "What the hell are you two going on about? This is fantastic!"
"It's also impossible, which makes this shipment damn near
priceless," Kylos pointed out and then rolled his eyes, when Kyranos gave him a bewildered
look.
"Excuse me, for a second there, I forgot that you only got half a
brain cell at birth," he said with a smirk and Sorren quickly looked away, as she tried not to
laugh.
"That's not funny," Kyranos said angrily, his face flushed with
heat, as he advanced on his brother. Kylos started laughing and shook his head at his dumb as dirt
brother.
"Oh come on! You were out for three hours the last time you picked
a fight with me," he pointed out, but started rolling up the sleeves of his shirt all the
same.
Sorren did something she seldom attempted and jumped between them,
shoving a hand against their chests, "No! This is not happening!" she said, and then turned and
glared at Kylos, "And you should know better!"
Kylos shrugged and stepped back to lean against the wall of the
cargo bay, "The more refined it is, the longer it lasts," he said simply, "This shipment will power
the city for well over a year. Like I said it's priceless."
"And like I said … that's fucking fantastic!" Kyranos reiterated
again.
"Yes it is, until the owner who went to the trouble of refining
it, decides he wants it back. Right now, larosite is refined up to thirty percent." Kylos pointed
down to the shipment, "This should be impossible."
Kyranos snapped to attention, sudden understanding in his dark
green gaze. "It also means that we are not alone in this anymore. Someone else has figured out how
to create energy from the larosite gem." Kylos leaned down and picked up one of the large dirty
rocks. He gazed down at it in amazement. "Only they did a better job of it than we did," he
muttered, gazing down at the larosite in complete awe. Kylos looked up at the ceiling and grinned.
The blockhead finally got it.
Sorren looked on with a good deal of amusement. He was clearly
smitten with the unknown owner of the larosite. He seemed to snap out of it though, as he came to
some kind of conclusion with a decisive nod of his head.
"We're going to find this man Kaid and ask him to tell us how he
did it," he said and nodded again, possibly for better affect. Kylos stared at his brother for one
stunned heartbeat and then roared with laughter. Sorren was a bit more direct in the
matter.
"I imagine that would have been easier, had we not just … stole
his fucking shipment!" she shouted the last part right in his face, because she simply couldn't
help herself.
Kylos nodded in agreement, still laughing. "What she said, you
dumb ass!"
Kyranos snapped his mouth closed and flushed an angry red. He
ignored Kylos completely and turned on Sorren. "Watch the language!"
"Start using your brain and I'll start watching my tongue," she
shot back with a laugh and then to Kylos, "What if we take it back to him as a…."
"Are you mental? We are not giving it back! You heard him, this
will power the city for over a year," Kyranos looked over to Kylos for help, "Surely to the Goddess
we can learn something from studying the shipment ourselves, right?"
"I don't know, maybe." He shrugged in a non committed way, but his
eyes lit up with the prospect of getting to study them. "It would have been better to have Kaid
around, but oh well."
"Fine, but we're going to have to lay low for a while. There's no
way the humans can find us, but the less we rub it in their face, the better." Sorren looked down
at the shipment once more, before turning to Kylos, "We have a year to figure this out, so let's
take it home and see what you can make of it."
The three of them filed out of the cargo bay moments later, the
doors locking behind them with a single flick of Sorren's wrist. Once out in the corridor, they
vanished, only to reappear seconds later on the bridge of the ship. On the view screen right in
front of them, was the space station they'd just escaped from.
"They've stopped scanning for us. When did you let their sensors
go?" Kylos asked, with a pointed look at Sorren.
"Couple hours ago," Sorren said and sighed, "They gave up way too
fast, but they always do. Humans should trust their instincts over computers once in a
while."
"Yeah, cause that would make this shit so much easier," Kyranos
said dryly. He turned to Kylos, who seemed lost in thought, as he stared intently out at the space
station.
"You got one yet?" Kyranos asked, as he too turned and stared out
at the station with his siblings. Kylos said nothing at first and then nodded and pointed to a
medium sized cruiser docked with the station.
"That one over there, she's charging engines now, and the pattern
is a close enough match to our own." He looked over at Sorren and arched a brow, "You still got us
covered?"
Sorren nodded, her eyes narrowed on the ship, "Wait for it," she
muttered more to herself than to her brothers. Suddenly her eyes lit up with triumph. "Now, take
her out now."
With their minds, they controlled the ship and kept it cloaked as
they followed along in the cruiser's flight stream and into deep space, no one the wiser for
it.
"If this gets any easier, I'm going to die of boredom," Sorren
said with a playful grin, a grin that faded, as her eyes filled with sudden undisguised pain.
Without warning, she cried out and slid down to the floor, her legs contorted and seizing with
vicious cramps. It was pain like she had never felt before in her life, but had seen a thousand
times over.
The brothers both dropped to the floor at her side and looked at
each other in alarm. Kyranos looked away from the fear in his brothers eyes, a fear he could not
give voice to.
He gave a violent shake of his head, "No! No damn it! You overused
your muscles." He turned and glared at Kylos, "Get the med kit now."
"No, it's fine. The pain is already getting better. They never
last long at first." When Kyranos ignored her and continued to issue orders, she grabbed him by the
front of his shirt and jerked him around, forcing him to meet her eyes.
"You're not this stupid Kyranos. You know exactly what this is,"
she said as firmly as she could, but was still unable to cover up the fear in her voice. Kyranos
cursed and jumped to his feet and started striding angrily back and forth beside her.
Kylos laid a shaking hand on her shoulder, "Sorren listen to me.
We're taking you home to get tested. It could be anything, do hear me? It might not be
Skottos."
Kyranos stopped pacing and nodded in agreement, "He's right, you
haven't even been exposed to it. We're going home right now." He turned away, a spark of hope in
his eyes and Sorren knew that he'd already set the ship on a course for their so-called
home.
She closed her eyes and a tear slipped unbidden down her cheek to
drop silently to the floor. She was about to cast that small flicker of hope all the way to hell,
but she had no choice.
"There was a boy in that medical camp I delivered those supplies
to last month. The disease was in the last stage." Her words seemed ripped from her soul and caused
a stillness to settle over the bridge as she continued to speak in a halting whisper.
"There was no one there for him and he was afraid. I stayed with
him." She opened her eyes to see the both of them staring down at her in horror. "I held him until
he died."
Kyranos leapt back from her, his expression agonized and stricken.
He shook his head slowly back and forth in denial and turned away, his back tense and rigid, as he
gave every attempt to keep the powerful emotions at bay.
Kylos stared down at her, his green eyes wide and filled with
pain. "Why?" he asked simply, "Why would you risk yourself?"
"He was afraid and there was no one else. He asked if I could go
with him. I … I told him his mom and dad were waiting for him and to give them his very best smile,
when he saw them," she said brokenly, no longer able to hold back the flood of tears. "He died with
the sweetest smile you ever saw Kylos. He looked so happy."
"Damn you Sorren," he muttered painfully and raised a hand to
gently brush her tears away, but she waved his hand away from her.
"You can't touch me anymore, not without gloves," she informed him
softly, "The disease might be in my tears. He was crying too and I kissed his tears
away."
Kylos pulled his hand back and clenched it into a tight fist. They
both jumped a moment later, as Kyranos fell to his knees and gave a sudden, anguished shout of
rage.
"How could you?" he shouted at her, his eyes burning like fire, as
iridescent green sparks lit them from within. "These people hate you! They tried to kill
you."
Sorren gazed back at him with a blank stare. "How could I
not?"
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