Beyond the door, there came a rush of feet. A woman's voice cried, "Turn them off, Traynor! Quick, before they burn your brain out!"
"Open up, then! Unlock that door!"
"Yes, yes! But turn them off!"
"Unlock it!"
A bolt flew back with a deafening crash. The door burst open in a dazzling blaze of light.
Blinded, lurching, stumbling, I clawed down switches. My head throbbed till it seemed it must surely split wide open.
But as the mills went off, the tide of experiential wave-shock ebbed. Slowly, the intensity of the stimuli flooding in upon me fell back to normal level. My vision cleared. My head stopped ringing.
Celeste Stelpa stood in the doorway. Her face was pale, her lovely eyes dark-ringed with strain.
I said, "All right. Talk."
"Talk—?" The grey eyes widened visibly. "What do you mean?"