er in a shallow cave, and counted himself
lucky that the temperature had not yet plunged.

He sat in the cave, half-dozing, the remnants of his makeup running down
his face, keeping a sleepy watch over the slope of the mountain below
him. Then, in the brilliant illumination of a lightning flash, he saw
something moving up the slope, heading directly toward his cave.

He stood up, the needlebeam ready, and waited for another lightning
flash. It came, and now he could see the cold, wet gleam of metal, a
flashing of red and green lights, a pair of metal tentacles taking grips
on the rocks and small shrubs of the mountainside.

It was a machine similar to the one Barrent had fought in the cellars of
the Department of Justice. Now he knew what Rend had wanted to warn him
about. And he could see why few of the Hunted escaped, even if they got
beyond the city itself. This time, Max would not be operating at random
to make a more equal contest out of it. And there would be no exposed
fuse box.

As Max came within range, Barrent fired. The blast bounced harmlessly
off the machine's armored hide. Barrent left the shelter of his cave and
began to climb.

The machine came steadily behind him, up the treacherous wet face of the
mountain. Barrent tried to lose it on a plateau of jagged boulders, but
Max couldn't be shaken. Barrent realized that the machine must be
following a scent of some kind; probably it was keyed to follow the
indelible paint on Barrent's face.

On a steep face of the mountain, Barrent rolled boulders onto the
machine, hoping he could start an avalanche. Max dodged most of the
flying rocks, and let the rest bounce off him, with no visible effect.

At last Barrent was backed into a narrow, steep-sided angle of cliff. He
was unable to climb any higher. He waited. When the machine loomed over
him, he held the needlebeam against its metal hide and held down the
trigger.

Max shuddered for a moment under the impact of the needlebeam's full
charge. Then it brushed the weapon away and wrapped a tentacle around
Barrent's neck. The metal coils tightened. Barrent felt himself losing
consciousness. He had time to wonder whether the coils would strangle
him or break his neck.

Suddenly the pressure was gone. The machine had backed away a few feet.
Past it, Barrent could see the first gray light of dawn.

He had lived through the Hunt. The machine was not programmed to kill
him after dawn. But it wouldn't let him