[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
check you out on them."
Rick looked down and smirked. "I'm not worried. If you can learn to fly
one of these things, I sure can."
Roy snorted, "Don't be so modest!"
When Rick was in the pilot's seat and Roy was in the rear seat, Roy
handed Rick a red-visored Robotech flight helmet.
Rick turned it over in his hands, examining the interior. "Whoa, what
kind of helmet is this? What's all this stuff inside?"
"Receptors. They pick up electromagnetic activity in your brain. You
might say the helmet's a mind reader, in some ways."
The receptors were just like part of the helmet's padding: soft,
yielding-no safety hazard. But Rick wasn't so sure he liked the idea of having
his head wired. "What're they for?"
"For flying a Veritech, buddy boy. You'll still handle a lot of manual
controls, but there are things this baby does that it can only do through
advanced control systems."
Page 25
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Rick hiked himself around in his seat and leaned out to look back at
Roy. "Look, I saw your guys flying, remember? What's so special about these
crates that you have to wear a thinking cap just to steer one?"
Roy told him, "The real secrets aren't supposed to go public until the
politicians are through with all their blabbing, but I'll tell you this: The
machine you're sitting in isn't like anything humans have ever built-it's as
different from Mockingbird as Mockingbird is from a pair of shoes.
"Because you don't just pilot a Robotech ship, Rick; you live it."
On the main reviewing stand high above the crowd, Senator Russo stood at
the speaker's rostrum, his voice echoing out over the throngs, amplified so
that it reached to the farthest shores of the sea of people. Flags snapped in
the wind, and the moment felt like a complete triumph.
"This is the day we've all been looking forward to for ten years! The
Robotech project has been a tremendous asset to the economy of Macross City
and to the welfare of our people!"
Captain Gloval, standing to one side with a few other dignitaries, tried
to keep from yawning or simply throwing up his hands in disgust. So far, all
Russo and his cronies had done was take credit for themselves and do some
not-too-subtle electioneering.
Gloval cast a critical eye at the weather and gave it his grudging
approval. He was impatient to launch; various other Earth military forces were
already deployed in space, patrolling and awaiting the start of the SDF-1's
first space trials. But the politicos didn't care who they kept waiting or
what careful timetables they spoiled when they had the spotlight.
A liaison officer came up the steps at the rear of the reviewing stand
and approached Gloval as Russo went on. "More important, though, is the fact
that the technology developed here will benefit all mankind, now and in the
future. And I need not mention what it means to the defense of our great
planet, Earth!"
The liaison cupped his hand to Gloval's ear and said, "Excuse me, sir:
urgent message from the space monitoring station. A strange flash of light and
an explosion, tremendous radiation readings, accompanied by irregularities in
solar gravitational fields."
In spite of the warmth of the day, Gloval suddenly felt cold all over.
"The same sort of event occurred ten years ago. You know what happened then,
don't you?"
The aide was trying to conceal his fear, nodding. "That's when the alien
ship arrived."
Gloval assumed the icy calm of a seasoned captain. "Better check it out.
Come with me."
Gloval was descending the platform steps as Russo announced what a great
honor it was to introduce the commander of SDF-1, Henry Gloval.
For once, Russo didn't know what to say. "Come back here! You have to
make a speech!" he shouted.
Gloval never even looked around. The time for speeches was over.
On the SDF-1 bridge, the women who were the battle fortress's heart
worked furiously to make some sense of the sudden chaos around them.
"What's going on here, anyway?" Claudia demanded, trying everything she
could think of to interpret her instruments and reassert some control over the
ship's systems.
"Claudia, give me a readout!" Lisa called calmly. All around her, the
bridge was a din of alarms, flashing indicators, malfunctioning controls, and
overloaded computers.
Claudia looked up from her hopeless efforts. "Every system on the ship
is starting up without being turned on!"
Unprecedented, impossible-to-interpret mechanisms had self-activated in
the ship's power plant-the great, sealed engines that not even Lang had dared
open. And the many different kinds of alien apparatus connected to it were
Page 26
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
doing bewildering things to the SDF-1's structure as well as its systems,
making the humans helpless bystanders.
"The defense system is activating the main gun!" Claudia reported,
horrified.
Far off at the great starship's bow, gargantuan servomotors hummed and
groaned. The huge twin booms that made up the forward portion of the ship
moved to either side on colossal camlike devices. The booms locked into place,
looking like a fantastic tuning fork. The ship's reconstruction had the bow
high up now, pointed out above the end of Macross Island's cliff line at the
open sea.
Lisa's mind raced. The main gun had never been fired; no one was even
sure how powerful it was. That test was to be reserved for empty space. But if
it salvoed now, the ensuing death and destruction might well be greater than
that created by the ship's original crash.
At the same time, everyone aboard could feel the supership shifting
slightly on the massive keel blocks-the monolithic rests on which it lay.
Warning klaxons and horns were deafening.
The SDF-1's aiming its gun, Lisa realized. But at what target?
"Shut down all systems!" she ordered Claudia.
Claudia, trying the master cutoff switch several times to no effect,
looked at Lisa helplessly. "It doesn't work!"
A sudden glare from the bow lit the bridge with red-orange brilliance,
throwing their flickering shadows on the bulkhead behind them.
Around and between the forward booms, tongues of orange starflame were
shooting and whirling and arcing back and forth. The fantastic energy cascade
began sluicing up the booms toward their tips, sparks snapping, seemingly
eager to be set free.
And still Lisa could think of nothing she could do.
Just then the hatch opened and Gloval hurried in so quickly that he
bumped his head on the frame. He didn't spare time or his usual swearing at
the people who'd refitted the largest machine ever known for not providing a
little more headroom. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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check you out on them."
Rick looked down and smirked. "I'm not worried. If you can learn to fly
one of these things, I sure can."
Roy snorted, "Don't be so modest!"
When Rick was in the pilot's seat and Roy was in the rear seat, Roy
handed Rick a red-visored Robotech flight helmet.
Rick turned it over in his hands, examining the interior. "Whoa, what
kind of helmet is this? What's all this stuff inside?"
"Receptors. They pick up electromagnetic activity in your brain. You
might say the helmet's a mind reader, in some ways."
The receptors were just like part of the helmet's padding: soft,
yielding-no safety hazard. But Rick wasn't so sure he liked the idea of having
his head wired. "What're they for?"
"For flying a Veritech, buddy boy. You'll still handle a lot of manual
controls, but there are things this baby does that it can only do through
advanced control systems."
Page 25
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Rick hiked himself around in his seat and leaned out to look back at
Roy. "Look, I saw your guys flying, remember? What's so special about these
crates that you have to wear a thinking cap just to steer one?"
Roy told him, "The real secrets aren't supposed to go public until the
politicians are through with all their blabbing, but I'll tell you this: The
machine you're sitting in isn't like anything humans have ever built-it's as
different from Mockingbird as Mockingbird is from a pair of shoes.
"Because you don't just pilot a Robotech ship, Rick; you live it."
On the main reviewing stand high above the crowd, Senator Russo stood at
the speaker's rostrum, his voice echoing out over the throngs, amplified so
that it reached to the farthest shores of the sea of people. Flags snapped in
the wind, and the moment felt like a complete triumph.
"This is the day we've all been looking forward to for ten years! The
Robotech project has been a tremendous asset to the economy of Macross City
and to the welfare of our people!"
Captain Gloval, standing to one side with a few other dignitaries, tried
to keep from yawning or simply throwing up his hands in disgust. So far, all
Russo and his cronies had done was take credit for themselves and do some
not-too-subtle electioneering.
Gloval cast a critical eye at the weather and gave it his grudging
approval. He was impatient to launch; various other Earth military forces were
already deployed in space, patrolling and awaiting the start of the SDF-1's
first space trials. But the politicos didn't care who they kept waiting or
what careful timetables they spoiled when they had the spotlight.
A liaison officer came up the steps at the rear of the reviewing stand
and approached Gloval as Russo went on. "More important, though, is the fact
that the technology developed here will benefit all mankind, now and in the
future. And I need not mention what it means to the defense of our great
planet, Earth!"
The liaison cupped his hand to Gloval's ear and said, "Excuse me, sir:
urgent message from the space monitoring station. A strange flash of light and
an explosion, tremendous radiation readings, accompanied by irregularities in
solar gravitational fields."
In spite of the warmth of the day, Gloval suddenly felt cold all over.
"The same sort of event occurred ten years ago. You know what happened then,
don't you?"
The aide was trying to conceal his fear, nodding. "That's when the alien
ship arrived."
Gloval assumed the icy calm of a seasoned captain. "Better check it out.
Come with me."
Gloval was descending the platform steps as Russo announced what a great
honor it was to introduce the commander of SDF-1, Henry Gloval.
For once, Russo didn't know what to say. "Come back here! You have to
make a speech!" he shouted.
Gloval never even looked around. The time for speeches was over.
On the SDF-1 bridge, the women who were the battle fortress's heart
worked furiously to make some sense of the sudden chaos around them.
"What's going on here, anyway?" Claudia demanded, trying everything she
could think of to interpret her instruments and reassert some control over the
ship's systems.
"Claudia, give me a readout!" Lisa called calmly. All around her, the
bridge was a din of alarms, flashing indicators, malfunctioning controls, and
overloaded computers.
Claudia looked up from her hopeless efforts. "Every system on the ship
is starting up without being turned on!"
Unprecedented, impossible-to-interpret mechanisms had self-activated in
the ship's power plant-the great, sealed engines that not even Lang had dared
open. And the many different kinds of alien apparatus connected to it were
Page 26
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
doing bewildering things to the SDF-1's structure as well as its systems,
making the humans helpless bystanders.
"The defense system is activating the main gun!" Claudia reported,
horrified.
Far off at the great starship's bow, gargantuan servomotors hummed and
groaned. The huge twin booms that made up the forward portion of the ship
moved to either side on colossal camlike devices. The booms locked into place,
looking like a fantastic tuning fork. The ship's reconstruction had the bow
high up now, pointed out above the end of Macross Island's cliff line at the
open sea.
Lisa's mind raced. The main gun had never been fired; no one was even
sure how powerful it was. That test was to be reserved for empty space. But if
it salvoed now, the ensuing death and destruction might well be greater than
that created by the ship's original crash.
At the same time, everyone aboard could feel the supership shifting
slightly on the massive keel blocks-the monolithic rests on which it lay.
Warning klaxons and horns were deafening.
The SDF-1's aiming its gun, Lisa realized. But at what target?
"Shut down all systems!" she ordered Claudia.
Claudia, trying the master cutoff switch several times to no effect,
looked at Lisa helplessly. "It doesn't work!"
A sudden glare from the bow lit the bridge with red-orange brilliance,
throwing their flickering shadows on the bulkhead behind them.
Around and between the forward booms, tongues of orange starflame were
shooting and whirling and arcing back and forth. The fantastic energy cascade
began sluicing up the booms toward their tips, sparks snapping, seemingly
eager to be set free.
And still Lisa could think of nothing she could do.
Just then the hatch opened and Gloval hurried in so quickly that he
bumped his head on the frame. He didn't spare time or his usual swearing at
the people who'd refitted the largest machine ever known for not providing a
little more headroom. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]