Kei checked the VDU .
The count sat where the slaughter had left it — twenty-five thrill points , banked , level-ready , the small clinical notation of advancement deferred sitting beside the number where Epoch had placed it and where Kei had told her to leave it . Twenty-five was enough . Twenty-five was more than enough . Five points made a level , and he had five levels' worth waiting in the dark of his own accumulation , unspent .
He asked Epoch the question in his mind without sound , the way he asked her everything in the fissure where any sound at all was the wrong sound .
How long to level .
