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Ohara was near-apoplectic. He watched incredulously through the binoculars first as an ordinary-looking shotgun appeared in the Visitor's hands from out of nowhere, and then as the leather-clad extradimensional casually blew the arm off BU-65C combat boomer with a decidedly un-ordinary blast from that same weapon.
"What the hell is that gun loaded with?" he muttered to himself through clenched teeth.
"If these readings are right, nothing, Ohara-san," ventured
Davis calmly. In the distance, a flash of light and the delayed crack of an explosion announced another shot from the weapon.
Ohara whirled on him. "What do you mean, nothing?"
Davis betrayed no emotion as he pointed to the displays before him. "I mean, as far as the instruments are concerned, that's not even a gun he's carrying."
"It's not?" Ohara stood stock-still at this. "Then what the
hell is it?"
Davis ventured a slight smile, and replied, "About three
kilograms of pure energy."
Ohara narrowed his eyes and glared at his subordinate. "That's nonsense. You *don't* measure energy in *kilograms*."
The tech gestured again at the displays. "You do in this case. Grav-field sensors indicated a mass discontinuity equivalent to about three kilograms simply appeared at the same time as that 'shotgun'. The radar and spectroscopes don't register anything material, but the flux sensors indicate the presence of an intensely powerful electromagnetic field in the same location as the mass -- intense enough that I had to recalibrate the sensors twice simply to get it on the scale. The field and the mass both get marginally smaller each time he fires off a shot." Another distant *crack* and both Davis and Ohara winced. "That 'gun' is actually a vast amount of pure energy somehow 'gelled' into a state that is almost but not quite real matter."
"Then each shot is?" Ohara asked.
"At most maybe a picogram of energy, I'd guess, somehow contained until it hits its target." Davis turned and gave him a sober look. "Dr. Ohara, the Visitor is carrying the energy equivalent of a 3-kilo total conversion bomb in his bare hands. He created it out of thin air. And is firing off bits of it at will. I sincerely hope he doesn't drop it, because MegaTokyo won't survive the result. I'm not sure *Japan* would survive the result. And we're expected to *capture* him?" Davis shook his head. "I don't know about you, but I'm not getting paid enough to tangle with someone who can do that."

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Through the space the boomer had just occupied, she could now see the Loon. The shotgun-like weapon in his hands was glowing faintly, lighting a halo around itself in the falling snow. Even as she blinked to try to clear her eyes, the glow intensified. The weapon doubled in thickness and then split down its length like an amoeba reproducing... to become two shotguns, one in each of his hands. The glow flared once more, and the shotguns writhed and flowed; thick disks grew from their stocks, right in front of the trigger. *Drum magazines,* she realized. *Fully-automatic shotguns? I like!*

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I finally know what Doug's first salvo against... but wait, no, that would be telling.

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We infiltrate, we wade through hip-deep filth
And then we come at them from below

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If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then I think you're right...

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Ah, well, in that case... Lightning's Hand, Stalin's Organs, then Kon'ya wa Hurricane should do nicely for that scene...

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Good Gravey, man! That is some serious overkill! Where the heck is Doug gonna find the energy to fuel all -that-!?

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