[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

an east terminal and a west terminal.
 Symmetrical design, Derec agreed.  Makes sense.
 It s a good place to start, anyway.
 Let s hope that those sections are just closed down, not closed off.
The hospital was located near the center of C Section, three levels
down from the main thoroughfare. Together, Katherine and Derec
climbed up to the main level and headed west. There were no physical
barriers, though the four-lane express slidewalk was not operating,
obliging them to walk.
But past the boundary of subsection 42, the corridor lights were out
and the directional  lightworms were off. Based on what he had seen
during his earlier excursion, Derec had thought that might be the
case. He had hoped for either a local control option or a presence
sensor, but in vain. With eighteen subsections of blackness ahead of
them, they were forced to turn back.
They recruited the first robot they encountered to show them where
hand lanterns were kept, and soon returned to the subsection 42
threshold. The beams of the powerful portable lights stabbed deep
into the cavelike corridor and created a cozy island of light around
them. But they were very aware of the darkness beyond, the way their
footsteps echoed hollowly, the chill of the unused spaces they were
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
entering.
Ten minutes of walking brought them to the great triple pressure seal
doors at the outerboundary of C Section. The doors were resting
retracted in their grooves, apparently deactivated. Past the interlock,
the throughway narrowed to a single-lane slidewalk in each direction
with far fewer jumpoffs and side passages than before.
Derec expected to find robots guarding the entry to W Section, and
told Katherine so. But when they reached the far end of the slidewalk,
they were still alone. The west docks were there, just as they had
guessed. But the main public entrance to the complex was not even
locked.
 No guards, no locks, Derec said as they stood on the threshold.
 This looks very bad. Maybe they had one of the tugs take the ship and
stand off a hundred klicks from the base.
 Let s find out, Katherine said, starting ahead.
If the west docks were being held for possible military use as Dr.
Galen had implied, it was merely as a line item on some logistics
officer s list of resources. There was no sign that the complex had
even been or ever would be anything other than a general purpose
cargo and passenger transfer node. All the familiar facilities were
there: Import Registry, Customs, the travelers Personals.
Katherine led Derec past the unstaffed security stations and up the
loading ramp to the upper concourse. Along the length of the high-
ceilinged room were six check-in stations, six glassed-in waiting
areas, and six two-story viewports each of which looked out onto an
enormous docking slip and space beyond. All six slips were empty and
dark. Nothing could be seen through the viewports except a few dim
and distant stars.
 Downstairs? Derec asked.
Her lips pressed into a tight line, Katherine answered by leading the
way back down the ramp. The lower concourse seemed like a mirror
image of the upper. All six bays on the lower concourse were dark
but one was not empty.
 Bingo, Derec said, sprinting through the check-in station and up
the boarding tunnel.
 I don t understand, she said, dogging his heels.  Where are the
guards? There ought to be guards.
 Maybe they re inside, Derec said, pulling up short. The boarding
tunnel was connected to the emergency hatch they had seen being
installed, and across the lock-side seam there was a security seal. It
was a token seal, however, meant only to give notice that the hatch
had been opened. It could not stop them from going aboard.
Nothing inside had been disturbed, it seemed, since they had been
found and removed. For that matter, except for cracks in three of the
screens above the great command console, it did not even seem as
though there had been an explosion on the main deck. Yet there were
a dozen blackened fist-sized pits in the walls and ceiling to mark
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
where the charges had been.
 You don t blow up your house because a burglar breaks in,
Katherine observed.  Aranimas s security would have been tailored
to his own species. Whatever you want to call what we tripped 
 Radiation bomb, maybe.
  must have been designed to kill or disable an Erani without doing
serious damage to the ship.
 It did a good enough job on us.
Though they could not find Aranimas s stylus, whatever locked the
deck plates in place had apparently been disabled when the ship was
powered down. Twenty minutes later, they had torn up the whole
floor, but found nothing.
 Shall we put it back? Katherine asked, gesturing at the mess they
had created.
 No point. The robots are going to know we were here anyway.
 They have the key, don t they?
 Almost certainly. If they don t, Jacobson does.
Katherine sighed.  How are we ever going to find it? The size of this
station even if it were just lying in open view in a corridor
somewhere, it d take us weeks to find it. And you know that they ve
hidden it better than that.
 There s a lot of places they could put it that you can be sure they
didn t, Derec said, looking around the main cabin one last time.
 They won t leave it unattended, you can count on that. Not like they
left this ship.
 Do you have any idea why they let us in here?
Derec nodded slowly.  I think so. To send us a message. To tell us just
how harmless they think we are. That there s nothing we can do to
them. He sighed.  And they may just be right. Let s get out of here,
huh?
CHAPTER 17
PARTNERS IN CRIME
Squeak.
Brush.
Squeak.
Brush.
The sounds were soft and distant, but they were there, all right. If
either he or Katherine had been talking, as they had been the first
third of the way back, there would have been no way he would have
heard them. But ever since they had fallen silent in individual
introspection, the sounds had played at the threshold of Derec s
hearing.
At first he had thought them echoes of their own footsteps, or merely
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
the product of paranoia. But as they were passing into subsection 51,
Derec decided that they were real and not imagined. Something was
following them.
 Don t say anything and don t turn around, Derec whispered.  You
hold both lamps. Keep walking.
 What? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]