My ribs feel like they're about to pop beneath the machine-man's weight, but my hands are free at my sides. As Bot-Nathan winds up for the death strike, I draw the particle pistol strapped to my calf.

I fire twice before he can react. Two red-hot blasts of concentrated radiation streak into him. The first hits his wrist and burns straight through it. I see the glint of the knife pinwheeling through the air, leaving him brandishing nothing but a handless forearm. The second blast burns ...