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She seized Darv's arm and pointed. "There! Now do you believe me?" A hole over ten feet high had been blasted through the bulkhead that separated the reservoir from one of the major ducts that conducted water vapour to the farming galleries. The melted edges of the hole were still warm to Darv's touch. "Looks like it's finally happened," he said ruefully. "A service android's gone berserk. Either that or they've cut this hole to get some specialised machinery into the duct." * * * * Fagor's appearance when he entered the controlled zones caused Angel One and Angel Two considerable alarm. For one thing his armament matched up to Thorden's claims, and for another, the malignant machine seemed to sense that something was amiss with its master. But Fagor's presence did nothing to weaken the guardian angels in their resolve to destroy Thorden. They assumed Page 64 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html that Fagor had a simple brain. From that false premise they also assumed that it would be easy to get Fagor to leave the Challenger on some pretext so that the meteoroid annihilation shields could deal with him. * * * * "Not now," said Telson, securing his PD weapon in its holster. "The service androids are always carrying out structural work so I don't see what you're worried about." "Telson," said Astra. "This isn't structural work -- it's an enormous hole." "Enormous," emphasised Darv who was helping Sharna into a mobility suit. Telson snapped his helmet into place and opened the visor. "You're right to report it Darv. I'll look at it as soon as we get back." He moved to the shuttle's steps. "Ready Sharna?" "Ready," Sharna pulled on her gauntlets. The four shook hands. "Now don't worry about us," said Sharna in reply to Astra's anxious expression. "I daresay Telson and I will do a better job of looking after ourselves than you and Darv did on Kyros." * * * * An hour later, when Darv and Astra had returned to the main control room, the space shuttle, with Sharna and Telson on board, separated from the Challenger and moved towards the derelict hulk. The narrow gap between the two ships meant that it was possible for Telson to move the shuttle by means of its directional thrusters rather than use the main engine. Sharna switched on the shuttle's exterior lights when they were within five hundred yards of the drifting ship. "No problem getting in by the look of it," she commented, operating the controls that played the lights over the mass of holes and ruptures that covered the scarred outer skin. Telson guided the shuttle towards the largest hole while continuing to send reports on their progress to Darv and Astra. The ship loomed larger and larger in Telson's and Sharna's field of vision until they could no longer see the stars. The mighty fissure they were heading for yawned black and forbidding like the maw of a creature from the terror videos. Sharna aimed the hull searchlight into the black hole and illuminated a bulkhead that was set far enough in from the outer skin to provide room for the shuttle to manoeuvre once inside. Telson positioned the shuttle in the exact centre of the hole with the aid of brief stabs from the thrusters. He gave Sharna an encouraging smile and opened up the thrusters that propelled the shuttle into the hull. * * * * Radio contact with the shuttle was lost a few seconds after it entered the hull. It had been expected but that did not prevent Darv from swearing softly. He had hoped that the number of holes in the hulk would permit the passage of some radio signals. He switched on two scanners and listened. There was nothing. Unknown to him and Astra, the guardian angels decided that the moment had arrived to order the destruction of Thorden. The fateful command was issued to the surgical android. Five minutes later Thorden crossed the fine boundary line that separated suspended animation from death. And five minutes after that Fagor went berserk. * * * * The interior of the deserted ship was in much better condition than its exterior appearance suggested. Telson and Sharna were surprised to discover that most of the damage to the inner bulkheads had been repaired -- albeit somewhat crudely in places. The only gravity was the natural but feeble force Page 65 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html created by the ship's mass so that Telson had little trouble controlling the shuttle as it moved through the wide abandoned galleries. Sharna's lights picked out a massive rust-encrusted bulkhead that blocked the gallery. At that moment Sharna sensed that something was very wrong, "Rust?" she said to Telson. "How can there be rust if this place is in a permanent vacuum?" "Could be some other form of corrosion," Telson reasoned. "Anyway we've seen enough and come far enough for our first inspection. "We'd best be getting back." Telson operated the thrusters so that the shuttle pirouetted about its axis to face the way it had come. "Oh please dear God -- no," said Sharna, her voice a horrified whisper when the shuttle had completed its turn. "Tell me it's a dream." But there was nothing dreamlike about the steel bulkhead that was sliding closed in front of the shuttle so that Sharna and Telson were trapped. * * * * Fagor blasted his way through several walls on his route to the Challenger's main control room. "Fagor! Listen to me!" said Angel One's voice. Fagor stopped work on melting a passage through a bulkhead and glared around at the empty gallery. "Who speaks to Fagor!" he roared. "The killers of the Lord Thorden! Fagor will destroy them!" "Fagor -- listen." The giant android located the source of the sound and fired all of his lasers simultaneously. "That merely destroys one voice terminal," said Angel One. "There are a million such terminals throughout the ship." "Then Fagor will destroy a million voice terminals!" And suiting actions to words, he annihilated four more. "Fagor will avenge the death of the Grand Emperor by destroying his murderers!" "We will help you, Fagor," said Angel Two. "Another voice," growled Fagor. "Fagor does not like voices. Fagor kills voices!" More voice terminals were wiped out. Clearly Fagor wasn't fooling. The guardian angels formed the impression that he was going to be much more tricky to deal with than they had anticipated. Such single-mindedness in an android was outside their experience. "Listen, Fagor!" said Angel One. "Those who killed your master have left the ship and have entered the ship we are lying alongside. Go after them and we will guide you, but you will have to leave the Challenger!" Fagor was unimpressed by the offer of help and said so. He resumed blasting his way through the bulkhead and announced that he intended to seize control of the Challenger and plunge it into a sun. The guardian angels decided that they would have to rethink their relationship with Fagor. * * * * [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |