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That s right. Don t get too nervous though. I ve caught them before. Used to
be a sort of specialty of mine. And there s one thing about them they ll blab
their pointed little heads off if you can get one alive and promise it its
catnip . . . He d shucked off his jacket and taken out of it a very large
handgun with a bell-shaped mouth. He laid the gun down next to the view
screen. In case, he said, unreassuringly. Now just a moment.
He sat down in front of the view screen and did something to it.
All right, he said then. We re here and set. Probability period starts in
three minutes, continues for sixty. Signal on any blip. Otherwise no gabbing.
And remember they re fast
. Don t get sappy.
There was no answer. Quillan did something else to the screen and stood up
again. He looked broodingly at Trigger.
It s those damn computers again! he said. I don t see any sense in it.
In what? she asked shakily.
Everything that s happening around here is being fed back to them at the
moment, he said. When they heard about our invite to Lyad s dinner party,
and who was to be present, they came up with a honey. In the time period I
mentioned a catassin is supposed to show up at your cabin. They give it a
pretty high probability.
Trigger didn t say anything. If she had, she probably would have squeaked
again.
Now don t worry, he said, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly between a
large thumb and four slightly less large fingers. Nice muscle! he said
absently. The cabin s trapped and I ve taken other precautions. He massaged
the muscle gently. Probably the only thing that will happen is that we ll sit
around here for an hour or so, and then we ll have a hearty laugh together at
those foolish computers! He smiled.
I thought, Trigger said without squeaking, that everybody was pretty sure
it was dead.
Quillan frowned. Well, that s something else again! There are at least two
ways I know of to sneak it past that search.
Jump it out and in with a subtub is one they could have done that from their
own cabin as soon as they had its pattern. So
I don t really think it s dead. It s just
Quillan, a tiny voice said from the viewer.
He turned, took two steps, and sat down fast before the viewer. Go ahead!
Fast motion in B section. Going your way.
Fast motion. A thought flicked up. Quillan Trigger began.
He raised a shushing hand. Get a silhouette? he asked. His hands went to a
set of control switches and stayed there.
No. Pickup shows a haze like in the reconstruct. An instant s pause.
Leaving B section.
Motion in C section, said another voice.
Quillan said, All right. It s coming. No more verbal reports unless it
changes direction. If you want to stay alive, don t move unless you re in
armor.
Page 137
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
There was silence. Quillan sat unmoving, eyes fixed on the screen. Trigger
stood just behind him. Her legs had begun to tremble. She d better tell him.
Quillan
For an instant, in the screen, there was something like heat shimmer at the
far end of the passage. Then she saw her cabin door pop open.
The interior of the cabin showed in a brief flare of blue light. In it was a
shape. It vanished instantly again.
She heard Quillan make a shocked, incredulous sound. His left hand slashed at
a switch on the panel.
Twenty feet from them, just behind the closed door to the passage, was a
splatting noise like a tremendous slap. Then another noise, strangely like a
brief cloudburst. Then silence again.
She realized Quillan was on his feet beside her, the oversized gun in his
hand. It was pointed at the door. His eyes switched suddenly from the door to
the screen and back again. She felt him relaxing slowly. Then she discovered
she was clutching a handful of his shirt along with a considerable chunk of
tough skin. She went on clutching it.
Fly swatter got it! he said. Whew! He looked down and patted the clutching
hand. That was no catassin! The trap in the cabin wasn t fast enough. Had a
gravity mine outside our door, just in case.
That was barely fast enough! For once, Quillan looked almost awed.
L-l-l-like Trigger began. She tried again. Like a little yellow man
You saw it? In the cabin? Yes. Never saw anything just like it before!
Trigger pressed her lips together to make them stay steady.
I have, she said. That s what I was trying to tell you.
Quillan stared at her for an instant. You ll tell me about it in a couple of
minutes. I ve got some quick work to do first.
He checked himself. A wide grin spread suddenly over his face. Know
something, doll?
What?
The damn computers! Major Quillan said happily. They goofed!
The gravity mine would have reduced almost any life-form which moved into its
field to a rather thin smear, but there wasn t even that left of the yellow
demon-shape. Something, presumably something it was carrying, had turned it
into a small blaze of incandescent energy as the mine flattened it out. Which
explained the sound like a cloudburst. That had been the passage s automatic
fire extinguishers going into brief but correspondingly violent action.
Quillan s group stayed out of sight for the time being. He d barely got the
mine put away, along with a handful of warped metal slugs, which was what the
mine had left of their attacker s mechanical equipment, and Trigger s cabin
door locked again, when three visitors came zooming down the storerooms hall
in a small car. A ship s engineer and two assistants had arrived to check on
what had started the extinguishers.
They may, Quillan said hopefully, just go away again. He and Trigger were
watching the engineers through the viewer which had been extended to cover
their end of the passage.
They didn t just go away again. They checked the extinguishers, looked at the
floor, still wet but rapidly absorbing the last drops of the brief deluge.
They exchanged puzzled comment. They checked everything once more. Finally the
leader made use of the door announcer and asked if he might intrude.
Quillan switched off the viewer. Come in, he said resignedly.
The door opened. The three glanced at Quillan, and then at
Trigger-plus-Beldon. Their eyes widened only slightly. Duty on the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl freetocraft.keep.pl
That s right. Don t get too nervous though. I ve caught them before. Used to
be a sort of specialty of mine. And there s one thing about them they ll blab
their pointed little heads off if you can get one alive and promise it its
catnip . . . He d shucked off his jacket and taken out of it a very large
handgun with a bell-shaped mouth. He laid the gun down next to the view
screen. In case, he said, unreassuringly. Now just a moment.
He sat down in front of the view screen and did something to it.
All right, he said then. We re here and set. Probability period starts in
three minutes, continues for sixty. Signal on any blip. Otherwise no gabbing.
And remember they re fast
. Don t get sappy.
There was no answer. Quillan did something else to the screen and stood up
again. He looked broodingly at Trigger.
It s those damn computers again! he said. I don t see any sense in it.
In what? she asked shakily.
Everything that s happening around here is being fed back to them at the
moment, he said. When they heard about our invite to Lyad s dinner party,
and who was to be present, they came up with a honey. In the time period I
mentioned a catassin is supposed to show up at your cabin. They give it a
pretty high probability.
Trigger didn t say anything. If she had, she probably would have squeaked
again.
Now don t worry, he said, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly between a
large thumb and four slightly less large fingers. Nice muscle! he said
absently. The cabin s trapped and I ve taken other precautions. He massaged
the muscle gently. Probably the only thing that will happen is that we ll sit
around here for an hour or so, and then we ll have a hearty laugh together at
those foolish computers! He smiled.
I thought, Trigger said without squeaking, that everybody was pretty sure
it was dead.
Quillan frowned. Well, that s something else again! There are at least two
ways I know of to sneak it past that search.
Jump it out and in with a subtub is one they could have done that from their
own cabin as soon as they had its pattern. So
I don t really think it s dead. It s just
Quillan, a tiny voice said from the viewer.
He turned, took two steps, and sat down fast before the viewer. Go ahead!
Fast motion in B section. Going your way.
Fast motion. A thought flicked up. Quillan Trigger began.
He raised a shushing hand. Get a silhouette? he asked. His hands went to a
set of control switches and stayed there.
No. Pickup shows a haze like in the reconstruct. An instant s pause.
Leaving B section.
Motion in C section, said another voice.
Quillan said, All right. It s coming. No more verbal reports unless it
changes direction. If you want to stay alive, don t move unless you re in
armor.
Page 137
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
There was silence. Quillan sat unmoving, eyes fixed on the screen. Trigger
stood just behind him. Her legs had begun to tremble. She d better tell him.
Quillan
For an instant, in the screen, there was something like heat shimmer at the
far end of the passage. Then she saw her cabin door pop open.
The interior of the cabin showed in a brief flare of blue light. In it was a
shape. It vanished instantly again.
She heard Quillan make a shocked, incredulous sound. His left hand slashed at
a switch on the panel.
Twenty feet from them, just behind the closed door to the passage, was a
splatting noise like a tremendous slap. Then another noise, strangely like a
brief cloudburst. Then silence again.
She realized Quillan was on his feet beside her, the oversized gun in his
hand. It was pointed at the door. His eyes switched suddenly from the door to
the screen and back again. She felt him relaxing slowly. Then she discovered
she was clutching a handful of his shirt along with a considerable chunk of
tough skin. She went on clutching it.
Fly swatter got it! he said. Whew! He looked down and patted the clutching
hand. That was no catassin! The trap in the cabin wasn t fast enough. Had a
gravity mine outside our door, just in case.
That was barely fast enough! For once, Quillan looked almost awed.
L-l-l-like Trigger began. She tried again. Like a little yellow man
You saw it? In the cabin? Yes. Never saw anything just like it before!
Trigger pressed her lips together to make them stay steady.
I have, she said. That s what I was trying to tell you.
Quillan stared at her for an instant. You ll tell me about it in a couple of
minutes. I ve got some quick work to do first.
He checked himself. A wide grin spread suddenly over his face. Know
something, doll?
What?
The damn computers! Major Quillan said happily. They goofed!
The gravity mine would have reduced almost any life-form which moved into its
field to a rather thin smear, but there wasn t even that left of the yellow
demon-shape. Something, presumably something it was carrying, had turned it
into a small blaze of incandescent energy as the mine flattened it out. Which
explained the sound like a cloudburst. That had been the passage s automatic
fire extinguishers going into brief but correspondingly violent action.
Quillan s group stayed out of sight for the time being. He d barely got the
mine put away, along with a handful of warped metal slugs, which was what the
mine had left of their attacker s mechanical equipment, and Trigger s cabin
door locked again, when three visitors came zooming down the storerooms hall
in a small car. A ship s engineer and two assistants had arrived to check on
what had started the extinguishers.
They may, Quillan said hopefully, just go away again. He and Trigger were
watching the engineers through the viewer which had been extended to cover
their end of the passage.
They didn t just go away again. They checked the extinguishers, looked at the
floor, still wet but rapidly absorbing the last drops of the brief deluge.
They exchanged puzzled comment. They checked everything once more. Finally the
leader made use of the door announcer and asked if he might intrude.
Quillan switched off the viewer. Come in, he said resignedly.
The door opened. The three glanced at Quillan, and then at
Trigger-plus-Beldon. Their eyes widened only slightly. Duty on the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]