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explained, the longer we stayed on the scene, available to counter Ahriman's move. "There simply is not enough deuterium in the reactor at any given moment to allow an explosion,"Wilson repeated in a his soft, friendly voice. He sat slouched on one of the plastic couches that decorated the lab's lobby. I stood by the receptionist's desk. Dempsey had stretched out on another couch and apparently had gone back to sleep. Mangino was behind the desk, checking out his security patrols on the picture phone. "But suppose," I stalled for more time, "there was a way to boost the power of the lasers..." "They'd burn out in a minute,"Wilsonsaid. "We're running them at top capacity now." "...and an extra amount of deuterium was put into the reaction chamber." Wilsonshook his head, and a mass of sandy hair flopped down over his eyes. Pushing it back with one hand, he told me, "That simply cannot happen. There are fail-safe circuits to prevent it. And even if it did, all that would happen is that you would get a mild little poof of a detonation not a hydrogen bomb." "What about a lithium bomb?" I asked. For the first time, his eyebrows knit worriedly. "What do you mean?" "If things worked out the right way, couldn't the deuterium detonation trigger the lithium in the shielding around the reaction chamber?" "No, no. That would be impos " He checked himself, hesitated, then said slowly, "That would be very unlikely.Very unlikely. I'd have to work out the calculations, of course, but the chances against that must be..." "Twenty-four,report ." Mangino's razor-sharp voice sliced into our conversation. I turned and looked at the security chief. He was frowning angrily into the phone's picture screen. "Dammit, Twenty-four, answer me!" He looked up at me, as if I were responsible. "One of the guards outside doesn't respond. He's supposed to be patrolling the area around the loading dock." "The loading dock!"Wilsonshot to his feet. I could see that he had started to tremble. Mangino held up a hand. "Don't get excited, now. I've got the area on one of the outside TV cameras. Everything looks normal. Just no sign of the guard. He might be taking a leak or something." I went around the desk and peered at the TV screen. The loading bay was brightly lit. There were no Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html cars or trucks anywhere in sight. All seemed quiet and calm. "Let's take a walk down there anyway," I said. We roused Dempsey and told him to stand guard over the phones and TV screens. He rubbed his eyes sleepily but nodded okay. Then Dr. Wilson, Mangino and I hurried down the building's central corridor toward the loading dock. Mangino reached inside his coat and pulled out a slim, flat, dead-black pistol. He flicked the safety off and then slipped it into his jacket pocket. Lights turned on automatically ahead of us as we hustled along the corridor, and switched off behind us. The loading bay was a miniature warehouse: stacks of cardboard cartons, steel drums, packing cases, strange-looking equipment wrapped in clear plastic. "You could hide a platoon of men in here," Mangino grumbled. "But everything seems to be in order,"Wilsonsaid, glancing around. I started to agree, but felt the slightest trace of a breeze on my face. It came from the direction of the loading dock doors, big metal roll-up doors that were closed and locked tight. Or were they? I walked slowly toward the hangar-like doors and saw that a man-sized doorway had been cut into one of them. A person could slip in or out without needing to raise the entire rig. This smaller door was windowless. And shut. I reached for its handle. "It's locked," Mangino said. "Electronic time lock. If anybody tries to tamper with it..." I touched the handle and the door swung open effortlessly. Mangino gaped. Kneeling, I saw that the area around the edge of the lock had been bent slightly, as if massive hands had pried it open, bending the metal until it yielded. I had felt the stray breeze through the bent area. "Why didn't the alarm go off?" Mangino wondered aloud. "Never mind that," I said. "He's inside the lab! Quick; we don't have a second to lose!" We ran to the fusion reactor area,Wilsonprotesting all the way that no one could tamper with the lasers or the reactor to cause an explosion. The doors to the laser control room had been pulled off their hinges. A quick look inside showed that no one was in there. The control boards seemed untouched. WhileWilsoninspected them, Mangino yelled into his palm-sized radio, "All security guards converge on the reactor area. Apprehend anyone you see. Shoot if they resist. Call the local police and the F.B.I. at once!" We entered the big double doors that led to the long, cement-walled room where the lasers were housed. Again the overhead lights snapped on automatically as we crossed the doorway. "Those doors should have been locked," Dr. Wilson said, an edge of alarm in his voice. The lasers were long, thin glass rods, dozens of them, mounted on heavy metal stands, one over another like a series of parallel gymnasium bars. Every ten feet or so the glass rods were interrupted by groupings of lenses, Faraday rotators, and diagnostic sensors. The multiple line of lasers marched down the length of the long room and focused on a narrow slit cut into a thick, steel-reinforced cement wall. On the other side of that wall was the reactor itself, where the energy from the lasers was concentrated on micropellets Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html of deuterium fuel. The three of us stood there uncertainly for a moment. Then suddenly an electrical hum began vibrating through the air. I caught a whiff of ozone, and the laser tubes began to glow with an eerie, uncanny greenish light. "They're turning on!"Wilsongasped. CHAPTER 8 Mangino and I swung our attention to the far end of the room, where the control center was. In the shadows back there, behind thick protective glass, bulked the heavy, dark form of Ahriman. Mangino pulled out his pistol and fired. The glass starred. He emptied the gun, finally shattering the glass. But in those few seconds Ahriman was gone. The lights went out. All we could see was the brightening glow of the lasers, multiple paths of intensifying energy aimed at the slit and, beyond it, the reactor core. We stumbled out into the hallway. It was dark everywhere. For all I knew, Ahriman had caused a blackout throughout the region to pour power into the blazing lasers. Over the whining hum of the electric generators I heard running footsteps. Then shots. "They've got him!" Mangino yelled. But to me it sounded as if the running and shooting were going in the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |