[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
wire. Soldered to the end of one of the strands was a small circuit
board. Derec s breath hissed in with surprise. Mandelbrot, look at
this! Mandelbrot?
Mandelbrot was no longer listening. The robot had suddenly
straightened in an attitude of listening. Master Derec! The robots I
heard a few minutes ago they are being attacked!
From somewhere very close by, they could hear the sudden, savage
howling of wolves.
CHAPTER 19
ESCAPE FROM THE CITY
SilverSide s reaction to being seen by the Hunters was swift and
powered by the Three Laws. The Third Law forced her to try to save
herself. Second Law demanded that she follow the orders of humans,
and though she was their leader, KeenEye s commands to save the kin
still carried weight; the First Law compelled her to do whatever she
could to keep her people alive.
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Click here to buy
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Which meant the prime consideration was that Central be destroyed.
SilverSide changed her shape as the Hunters turned to look up at her.
She drew back the parafoil and thickened the body. Even as the
Hunters raised their hands to fire their lasers, she became a
streamlined, compact mass instead of a glider, and she dropped the
last thirty feet like a massive stone, crashing heavily into the central
column of Central. Laser beams crisscrossed the air where she had
been; delicate circuitry smashed under her fall. SilverSide changed
back to wolf form even as she rose from the wreckage of the core unit.
She went to the wide panels surrounding the core and pushed with all
the strength of her durable body. A panel toppled, striking the next in
line the array went down like a row of dominoes, sparking and
crashing, the thunder of their destruction ringing in the cavernous
room.
SilverSide fled the room, howling the ritual triumph of a victor even
as she anticipated the Hunters lasers cutting her down. It didn t
matter to her. She d done what she d come to do.
But nothing happened; the Hunters had stopped.
Already confusion was spreading through the city she could hear it,
a thousand voices crying out in the VoidTongue that the OldMother
had given her. WalkingStones were asking Central for instructions,
but Central was not replying, would never reply. The alarm was
spreading out through the various levels of this krajal-like society.
EMERGENCY! Central core memory damaged and off-line Command
program inactive: secondary routines down.
Activate supervisory backups.
Behind her, SilverSide heard the Hunters stir. She raced into the
corridor beyond Central s room. There were no WalkingStones in
sight there. She quickly altered herself once more to appear as one of
the Hill of Stars Hunters, depending on the disguise to give her cover
as she headed for the exit from the place. She listened to the
continuing dialogue in her head.
City command given to Supervisor units Alpha, Beta, Gamma. The
general announcement went out first over all frequencies, then three
new voices boomed in her head. The direction finder in her skull
indicated that all three were in widely scattered sections of the city.
ALPHA: Normal city subroutines accessed. City functions on-line and
programming reinstated.
BETA: Alert situation! Central computer destroyed. Attacking unit in
shape of local wolf-creatures is rogue robot. Repeat, attacking unit is
robot not under control of City Supervisors.
GAMMA: Alert update. Witnessing units report sophisticated shape-
changing abilities. Compass Tower Hunter-Seekers programming
altered to compensate.
SilverSide increased her pace as she moved toward the exit. The
corridor was crowded now, the WalkingStones returning to their
routines. If the Hunters were aware that she could change shape, then
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
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m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
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r r
her WalkingStone guise was not going to help her for very long.
Someone would report her presence or discover the charade through
some inadvertent response.
She knew that her victory had been short and bittersweet. Yes, she
had destroyed Central. She had disrupted the city, if only
momentarily. But the city had responded to the challenge all too well.
If she interpreted the signals correctly, there were now three sub-
Centrals, all in different places, and they knew her one advantage. If
she were going to win this battle, she must move quickly, find all three
of these Supervisors, and destroy them.
The next command from the trio of Supervisors dashed any hope
SilverSide had at all.
ALPHA: All city units: access subroutine 3067.A.296. Immediately
report any units not responding. Hold that unit at all costs until
Hunter-Seekers arrive. Third Law precedence invoked city survival
involved: higher priority than individual survival.
All around her, moving WalkingStones came to an abrupt halt. An
instant later, SilverSide did the same; it seemed safest.
She was wrong. A simultaneous alert was broadcast from the worker
WalkingStones around her. ANOMALY! Hunter-Seeker unit in
Compass Tower has stopped. In the same instant, all the workers in
sight lunged for her.
SilverSide growled as she dropped back into her preferred wolf
shape. She threw the nearest worker aside, the fragile body [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl wyciskamy.pev.pl
wire. Soldered to the end of one of the strands was a small circuit
board. Derec s breath hissed in with surprise. Mandelbrot, look at
this! Mandelbrot?
Mandelbrot was no longer listening. The robot had suddenly
straightened in an attitude of listening. Master Derec! The robots I
heard a few minutes ago they are being attacked!
From somewhere very close by, they could hear the sudden, savage
howling of wolves.
CHAPTER 19
ESCAPE FROM THE CITY
SilverSide s reaction to being seen by the Hunters was swift and
powered by the Three Laws. The Third Law forced her to try to save
herself. Second Law demanded that she follow the orders of humans,
and though she was their leader, KeenEye s commands to save the kin
still carried weight; the First Law compelled her to do whatever she
could to keep her people alive.
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
Which meant the prime consideration was that Central be destroyed.
SilverSide changed her shape as the Hunters turned to look up at her.
She drew back the parafoil and thickened the body. Even as the
Hunters raised their hands to fire their lasers, she became a
streamlined, compact mass instead of a glider, and she dropped the
last thirty feet like a massive stone, crashing heavily into the central
column of Central. Laser beams crisscrossed the air where she had
been; delicate circuitry smashed under her fall. SilverSide changed
back to wolf form even as she rose from the wreckage of the core unit.
She went to the wide panels surrounding the core and pushed with all
the strength of her durable body. A panel toppled, striking the next in
line the array went down like a row of dominoes, sparking and
crashing, the thunder of their destruction ringing in the cavernous
room.
SilverSide fled the room, howling the ritual triumph of a victor even
as she anticipated the Hunters lasers cutting her down. It didn t
matter to her. She d done what she d come to do.
But nothing happened; the Hunters had stopped.
Already confusion was spreading through the city she could hear it,
a thousand voices crying out in the VoidTongue that the OldMother
had given her. WalkingStones were asking Central for instructions,
but Central was not replying, would never reply. The alarm was
spreading out through the various levels of this krajal-like society.
EMERGENCY! Central core memory damaged and off-line Command
program inactive: secondary routines down.
Activate supervisory backups.
Behind her, SilverSide heard the Hunters stir. She raced into the
corridor beyond Central s room. There were no WalkingStones in
sight there. She quickly altered herself once more to appear as one of
the Hill of Stars Hunters, depending on the disguise to give her cover
as she headed for the exit from the place. She listened to the
continuing dialogue in her head.
City command given to Supervisor units Alpha, Beta, Gamma. The
general announcement went out first over all frequencies, then three
new voices boomed in her head. The direction finder in her skull
indicated that all three were in widely scattered sections of the city.
ALPHA: Normal city subroutines accessed. City functions on-line and
programming reinstated.
BETA: Alert situation! Central computer destroyed. Attacking unit in
shape of local wolf-creatures is rogue robot. Repeat, attacking unit is
robot not under control of City Supervisors.
GAMMA: Alert update. Witnessing units report sophisticated shape-
changing abilities. Compass Tower Hunter-Seekers programming
altered to compensate.
SilverSide increased her pace as she moved toward the exit. The
corridor was crowded now, the WalkingStones returning to their
routines. If the Hunters were aware that she could change shape, then
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
her WalkingStone guise was not going to help her for very long.
Someone would report her presence or discover the charade through
some inadvertent response.
She knew that her victory had been short and bittersweet. Yes, she
had destroyed Central. She had disrupted the city, if only
momentarily. But the city had responded to the challenge all too well.
If she interpreted the signals correctly, there were now three sub-
Centrals, all in different places, and they knew her one advantage. If
she were going to win this battle, she must move quickly, find all three
of these Supervisors, and destroy them.
The next command from the trio of Supervisors dashed any hope
SilverSide had at all.
ALPHA: All city units: access subroutine 3067.A.296. Immediately
report any units not responding. Hold that unit at all costs until
Hunter-Seekers arrive. Third Law precedence invoked city survival
involved: higher priority than individual survival.
All around her, moving WalkingStones came to an abrupt halt. An
instant later, SilverSide did the same; it seemed safest.
She was wrong. A simultaneous alert was broadcast from the worker
WalkingStones around her. ANOMALY! Hunter-Seeker unit in
Compass Tower has stopped. In the same instant, all the workers in
sight lunged for her.
SilverSide growled as she dropped back into her preferred wolf
shape. She threw the nearest worker aside, the fragile body [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]