[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
past the partly uncovered remains of what looked like something that had been
built by somebody, to the place where they had placed the monitor panels for
the security systems deployed through the area. The routine check showed all
ultraviolet transmitters and sensors functioning; motion detectors reset by
his
Page 116
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
ID signal after registering to his progress; infrared fences live and intact.
He updated the log and tried local again to report to base, but again the
transmission was swamped before he had exchanged more than a few words. He
delivered his opinion in the form of some chosen and well-practiced
obscenities, killed the circuit, and carried on.
At least, there were no plasma bolts here, or smart munitions homing on you
out in a void with no
cover you could trust. Running a few professors, or whoever they were, out
from where they had no business being had a lot more going for it than some of
the action he d seen. He needed to think seriously about getting out of this
business while he was young enough to make a go of something else and still in
one piece to do it. Something where he could market the skills he d picked up,
but less violent and with a lower wastage factor. A corporate security outfit,
maybe, or a private bodyguard; even a bouncer somewhere. But in the meantime
the pay was good, so the life had its compensations. Horrocks and Malotto
could laugh if they wanted when he talked about his plans and how he d have it
made one day. He d show them.
They tried to unnerve him with jokes about the unreality of his plans, or
maybe air rumors about a job they were due to go on. Even on this one.
Horrocks had told him about some kind of fortune-teller or wise guy who was
with the professors, calling Major Cobert, the unit s CO, and saying that the
workings were haunted by spirits of ancient alien builders . . . or
something like that. Slezansky wasn t sure if it was true, or just something
they d made up to rattle him.
He came to the gallery leading back toward the entrance cuttings. As he
rounded a corner into brighter light, a grotesque shape flew at him, speeding
silently over the walls and across the ceiling.
Stifling a shout of alarm, Slezansky recoiled against the wall, at the same
time fumbling to unsling his weapon; then he realized it was Delaney s shadow
being cast ahead as he advanced from the direction of the main access shaft,
patrolling his half of the route. Flustered at the thought of appearing
foolish, Slezansky hastily pulled the rifle back onto the shoulder grip of his
suit and moved forward. But
Delaney hadn t even noticed. The expression on his face, when Slezansky
flickered the flashlamp briefly across his visor, was distracted and tense.
What is it? Slezansky asked communications worked in this kind of proximity.
Something strange . . . I m not sure. This whole place. Come see what you
make of this.
Delaney led the way back along the gallery, then into an opening on one side,
beyond which a wide, irregular cavern lay between an undulating floor of
boulders and rubble, and a roof of rock shapes hanging low and oppressive in
the dim light from the gallery. He stood to one side, letting
Slezansky peer past him. Even though Delaney s figure was in shadow, Slezansky
could sense the other trooper watching him, waiting for his reaction.
Slezansky s brow knotted as the doubts and premonitions that he had felt
earlier came flooding back.
This place they were in was no mere hole dug into something dead, like a
disused tunnel or an old mine. The very rocks around them were alive
. As his eyes accommodated from the brighter gallery they had left, he could
make out strange, softly glowing tongues of violet and blue, and in other
places, ghostly background streaks of yellow, pink, and green, adding an
ethereal depth to the surroundings and throwing intervening edges into starkly
outlined silhouette.
What do you make of it? Delaney s voice asked again.
Slezansky was about to reply, when he became aware of other sounds on the
circuit not more static or interference, but something that swelled and faded
in sighing cadence like the surging of an ocean, distant yet hypnotically
insistent, as if bringing fragments of voices from the far reaches of space or
Page 117
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
of time. What they were saying was beyond comprehensibility. Or he could feel
, now, the presence of the ancient beings who had created this place was it
something that required the comprehension of a different, totally alien kind
of mind?
Slezansky stared fearfully, as if expecting apparitions from the past to arise
out of the rocks, and glanced back the way they had come, unconsciously
checking that their way out was clear. How long do we have left on this
watch? he asked. His voice had turned dry and croaky.
A little under an hour, Delaney replied.
I say we go back up now, Slezansky said. Tell em we ve got a
communications glitch.
Delaney didn t argue.
By the time they returned to the Venning troop carrier, Slezansky was already
feeling that they had overreacted. But it turned out that the atmosphere there
was far from settled either.
Communications problems had been intermittently affecting the long-range link
too, not just local channels. And the Zorken scientists in the Mule were
puzzling over strange emissions of vapor and colored mists from places on the
slopes above the camp. It seemed that things like that shouldn t be happening.
Even Horrocks didn t have a wisecrack or disparaging remark to offer. There
was a rumor that the fruitcake who was with the professors that the troops had
kicked out had called the Zorken bigwigs at their headquarters to warn about
some kind of plague breaking out.
Maybe there s something to it, Malotto hazarded when he heard Delaney and
Slezansky s account of their experiences below. I ll tell you one thing: I
don t like the sound of this.
Horrocks rallied himself enough to retort, What kind of troopers do you call
yourselves, getting jumpy over a few lights and some puffs of smoke? Haven t
you ever been down a cave before? I ll believe it when we start coming down
with the plague that the lunatic out there was raving about.
Delaney thought about it, then nodded decisively. Yeah. He had chirped up
noticeably since being back in daylight and among familiar faces. Yeah, he
said again. I go along with that too.
An hour later, Major Cobert came back from the Mule and announced that its
occupants weren t feeling or looking very good at all. Every one of them,
including the flight crew, were complaining of nausea, fever, and diarrhea.
Cobert described their appearance as seasick.
A little under three miles away, Kieran and the others had followed Cobert s
dialogue with Banks and the other Zorken people via the bugs planted inside
the Mule. The tap on the external antenna line brought an outgoing message to
Asgard describing the latest developments. Shortly afterward, Kieran,
bypassing Banks, called Cobert in the military scout vehicle directly, citing [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl fopke.keep.pl
past the partly uncovered remains of what looked like something that had been
built by somebody, to the place where they had placed the monitor panels for
the security systems deployed through the area. The routine check showed all
ultraviolet transmitters and sensors functioning; motion detectors reset by
his
Page 116
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
ID signal after registering to his progress; infrared fences live and intact.
He updated the log and tried local again to report to base, but again the
transmission was swamped before he had exchanged more than a few words. He
delivered his opinion in the form of some chosen and well-practiced
obscenities, killed the circuit, and carried on.
At least, there were no plasma bolts here, or smart munitions homing on you
out in a void with no
cover you could trust. Running a few professors, or whoever they were, out
from where they had no business being had a lot more going for it than some of
the action he d seen. He needed to think seriously about getting out of this
business while he was young enough to make a go of something else and still in
one piece to do it. Something where he could market the skills he d picked up,
but less violent and with a lower wastage factor. A corporate security outfit,
maybe, or a private bodyguard; even a bouncer somewhere. But in the meantime
the pay was good, so the life had its compensations. Horrocks and Malotto
could laugh if they wanted when he talked about his plans and how he d have it
made one day. He d show them.
They tried to unnerve him with jokes about the unreality of his plans, or
maybe air rumors about a job they were due to go on. Even on this one.
Horrocks had told him about some kind of fortune-teller or wise guy who was
with the professors, calling Major Cobert, the unit s CO, and saying that the
workings were haunted by spirits of ancient alien builders . . . or
something like that. Slezansky wasn t sure if it was true, or just something
they d made up to rattle him.
He came to the gallery leading back toward the entrance cuttings. As he
rounded a corner into brighter light, a grotesque shape flew at him, speeding
silently over the walls and across the ceiling.
Stifling a shout of alarm, Slezansky recoiled against the wall, at the same
time fumbling to unsling his weapon; then he realized it was Delaney s shadow
being cast ahead as he advanced from the direction of the main access shaft,
patrolling his half of the route. Flustered at the thought of appearing
foolish, Slezansky hastily pulled the rifle back onto the shoulder grip of his
suit and moved forward. But
Delaney hadn t even noticed. The expression on his face, when Slezansky
flickered the flashlamp briefly across his visor, was distracted and tense.
What is it? Slezansky asked communications worked in this kind of proximity.
Something strange . . . I m not sure. This whole place. Come see what you
make of this.
Delaney led the way back along the gallery, then into an opening on one side,
beyond which a wide, irregular cavern lay between an undulating floor of
boulders and rubble, and a roof of rock shapes hanging low and oppressive in
the dim light from the gallery. He stood to one side, letting
Slezansky peer past him. Even though Delaney s figure was in shadow, Slezansky
could sense the other trooper watching him, waiting for his reaction.
Slezansky s brow knotted as the doubts and premonitions that he had felt
earlier came flooding back.
This place they were in was no mere hole dug into something dead, like a
disused tunnel or an old mine. The very rocks around them were alive
. As his eyes accommodated from the brighter gallery they had left, he could
make out strange, softly glowing tongues of violet and blue, and in other
places, ghostly background streaks of yellow, pink, and green, adding an
ethereal depth to the surroundings and throwing intervening edges into starkly
outlined silhouette.
What do you make of it? Delaney s voice asked again.
Slezansky was about to reply, when he became aware of other sounds on the
circuit not more static or interference, but something that swelled and faded
in sighing cadence like the surging of an ocean, distant yet hypnotically
insistent, as if bringing fragments of voices from the far reaches of space or
Page 117
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
of time. What they were saying was beyond comprehensibility. Or he could feel
, now, the presence of the ancient beings who had created this place was it
something that required the comprehension of a different, totally alien kind
of mind?
Slezansky stared fearfully, as if expecting apparitions from the past to arise
out of the rocks, and glanced back the way they had come, unconsciously
checking that their way out was clear. How long do we have left on this
watch? he asked. His voice had turned dry and croaky.
A little under an hour, Delaney replied.
I say we go back up now, Slezansky said. Tell em we ve got a
communications glitch.
Delaney didn t argue.
By the time they returned to the Venning troop carrier, Slezansky was already
feeling that they had overreacted. But it turned out that the atmosphere there
was far from settled either.
Communications problems had been intermittently affecting the long-range link
too, not just local channels. And the Zorken scientists in the Mule were
puzzling over strange emissions of vapor and colored mists from places on the
slopes above the camp. It seemed that things like that shouldn t be happening.
Even Horrocks didn t have a wisecrack or disparaging remark to offer. There
was a rumor that the fruitcake who was with the professors that the troops had
kicked out had called the Zorken bigwigs at their headquarters to warn about
some kind of plague breaking out.
Maybe there s something to it, Malotto hazarded when he heard Delaney and
Slezansky s account of their experiences below. I ll tell you one thing: I
don t like the sound of this.
Horrocks rallied himself enough to retort, What kind of troopers do you call
yourselves, getting jumpy over a few lights and some puffs of smoke? Haven t
you ever been down a cave before? I ll believe it when we start coming down
with the plague that the lunatic out there was raving about.
Delaney thought about it, then nodded decisively. Yeah. He had chirped up
noticeably since being back in daylight and among familiar faces. Yeah, he
said again. I go along with that too.
An hour later, Major Cobert came back from the Mule and announced that its
occupants weren t feeling or looking very good at all. Every one of them,
including the flight crew, were complaining of nausea, fever, and diarrhea.
Cobert described their appearance as seasick.
A little under three miles away, Kieran and the others had followed Cobert s
dialogue with Banks and the other Zorken people via the bugs planted inside
the Mule. The tap on the external antenna line brought an outgoing message to
Asgard describing the latest developments. Shortly afterward, Kieran,
bypassing Banks, called Cobert in the military scout vehicle directly, citing [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]