[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
minutes.?If, she added silently to herself, we hold together that long.
?Sounding good,?Dallas murmured, watching
156 two lines overlap pleasingly on his console. ?Engage artificial
gravity.?
Lambert threw a switch. The ship seemed to stumble. Dallas' stomach
protested as the fading gravity of the little world receding behind them
was replaced by a full, unforgiving pull.
?Engaged,?Lambert reported, as her own insides finished realigning
themselves.
Ripley's gaze danced from one readout to another. A slight discrepancy
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appeared and she hurried to correct for it. ?Unequal thrust reading. I'm
altering the vector now.? She nudged a switch, watched with satisfaction
as a liquid needle crawled back to where it belonged. ?Compensation
effected. Holding steady now. We're set.?
Dallas was beginning to believe they'd make it without any trouble when
a violent tremor ran through the bridge. It sent personal possessions
and the frantic thoughts of the crew flying. The tremor lasted only an
instant, wasn't repeated.
?What the hell was that??Dallas wondered aloud. By way of reply, the
'com beeped for attention.
'That you, Parker??
?Yeah. We had some trouble back here.?
?Serious??
?Starboard quad's overheating. Judge for yourself.?
?Can you fix it??
?Are you kidding? I'm shutting it down.?
?Compensating again for unequal thrust,?Ripley announced solemnly.
?Just hold us together until we're beyond double zero,?Dallas asked the
pickup.
?What do you think we're trying to do back here??The intercom clicked off.
157 A slight change in the roaring of the engines became audible on the
bridge. No one looked at their neighbor, for fear of seeing their own
worry reflected there.
Moving a little more slowly but still slicing effortlessly through
boiling clouds, the Nostromo continued to power spaceward, on course to
meet with the drifting refinery.
In contrast to the comparative calm of the bridge, the engine room was
the scene of frenzied activity. Brett was scooched up inside a tube
again, sweating and wishing he was elsewhere.
?Got it figured??asked Parker from outside.
?Yeah. I think so. Dust is clogging the damn intakes again. Number two's
overheating now.?
?I thought we shut that junk out.?
?So did I. Must've slipped a screen again. Damn engines are too sensitive.?
'They weren't designed to fly through particulate hurricanes,?Parker
reminded his associate. ?Spit on it for two more minutes and we'll be
clear.?
A second tremor rattled the bridge. Everyone's attention stayed glued to
their respective consoles. Dallas thought of querying engineering, then
thought better of it and decided not to. If Parker had anything to
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report, he'd do so.
Come on, come on, he urged silently. Get it up. He promised himself that
if Parker and Brett could keep the primaries functioning for another
couple of minutes, he'd put them in for the bonuses they were constantly
harping about. A gauge on his board showed that gravitational pull was
fading rapidly. Another minute, he pleaded, one hand unconsciously
caressing the nearby wall. Another lousy minute.
Erupting from the crown of clouds, the Nostromo
158 burst into open space. One minute, fifty seconds later, the
surface-gravity indicator on Dallas' console fell to zero.
That was the signal for some unprofessional but heartfelt cheering on
the bridge.
?We made it.?Ripley lay exhausted against the padded back of her flight
seat. ?Damn. We made it.?
?When that first tremor hit and we started velocity slide, I didn't
think we were going to,?Dallas husked. ?I saw us splattering ourselves
all over the nearest hillside. We might as well have done that if we'd
had to go hyper and lost the refinery.?
?Nothing to worry about.?Lambert wasn't smiling. ?We could have landed
again and stayed there. Then our automatic distress beacon would've come
on. We could've relaxed in hypersleep while some other lucky crew got
itself kicked out of the freezers to come and rescue us.?
Don't mention anything about bonuses yet, Dallas was telling himself.
Surprise them with it when you wake up in Earth orbit. But for now, the
engineering team was at least entitled to some verbal commendation. He
addressed the 'com.
?Nice work, you two. How's she holding?? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl wyciskamy.pev.pl
minutes.?If, she added silently to herself, we hold together that long.
?Sounding good,?Dallas murmured, watching
156 two lines overlap pleasingly on his console. ?Engage artificial
gravity.?
Lambert threw a switch. The ship seemed to stumble. Dallas' stomach
protested as the fading gravity of the little world receding behind them
was replaced by a full, unforgiving pull.
?Engaged,?Lambert reported, as her own insides finished realigning
themselves.
Ripley's gaze danced from one readout to another. A slight discrepancy
Page 87
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
appeared and she hurried to correct for it. ?Unequal thrust reading. I'm
altering the vector now.? She nudged a switch, watched with satisfaction
as a liquid needle crawled back to where it belonged. ?Compensation
effected. Holding steady now. We're set.?
Dallas was beginning to believe they'd make it without any trouble when
a violent tremor ran through the bridge. It sent personal possessions
and the frantic thoughts of the crew flying. The tremor lasted only an
instant, wasn't repeated.
?What the hell was that??Dallas wondered aloud. By way of reply, the
'com beeped for attention.
'That you, Parker??
?Yeah. We had some trouble back here.?
?Serious??
?Starboard quad's overheating. Judge for yourself.?
?Can you fix it??
?Are you kidding? I'm shutting it down.?
?Compensating again for unequal thrust,?Ripley announced solemnly.
?Just hold us together until we're beyond double zero,?Dallas asked the
pickup.
?What do you think we're trying to do back here??The intercom clicked off.
157 A slight change in the roaring of the engines became audible on the
bridge. No one looked at their neighbor, for fear of seeing their own
worry reflected there.
Moving a little more slowly but still slicing effortlessly through
boiling clouds, the Nostromo continued to power spaceward, on course to
meet with the drifting refinery.
In contrast to the comparative calm of the bridge, the engine room was
the scene of frenzied activity. Brett was scooched up inside a tube
again, sweating and wishing he was elsewhere.
?Got it figured??asked Parker from outside.
?Yeah. I think so. Dust is clogging the damn intakes again. Number two's
overheating now.?
?I thought we shut that junk out.?
?So did I. Must've slipped a screen again. Damn engines are too sensitive.?
'They weren't designed to fly through particulate hurricanes,?Parker
reminded his associate. ?Spit on it for two more minutes and we'll be
clear.?
A second tremor rattled the bridge. Everyone's attention stayed glued to
their respective consoles. Dallas thought of querying engineering, then
thought better of it and decided not to. If Parker had anything to
Page 88
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
report, he'd do so.
Come on, come on, he urged silently. Get it up. He promised himself that
if Parker and Brett could keep the primaries functioning for another
couple of minutes, he'd put them in for the bonuses they were constantly
harping about. A gauge on his board showed that gravitational pull was
fading rapidly. Another minute, he pleaded, one hand unconsciously
caressing the nearby wall. Another lousy minute.
Erupting from the crown of clouds, the Nostromo
158 burst into open space. One minute, fifty seconds later, the
surface-gravity indicator on Dallas' console fell to zero.
That was the signal for some unprofessional but heartfelt cheering on
the bridge.
?We made it.?Ripley lay exhausted against the padded back of her flight
seat. ?Damn. We made it.?
?When that first tremor hit and we started velocity slide, I didn't
think we were going to,?Dallas husked. ?I saw us splattering ourselves
all over the nearest hillside. We might as well have done that if we'd
had to go hyper and lost the refinery.?
?Nothing to worry about.?Lambert wasn't smiling. ?We could have landed
again and stayed there. Then our automatic distress beacon would've come
on. We could've relaxed in hypersleep while some other lucky crew got
itself kicked out of the freezers to come and rescue us.?
Don't mention anything about bonuses yet, Dallas was telling himself.
Surprise them with it when you wake up in Earth orbit. But for now, the
engineering team was at least entitled to some verbal commendation. He
addressed the 'com.
?Nice work, you two. How's she holding?? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]