[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
more on the order of a realignment of loyalties.
Burak had been growing a little unstable. He resented it that his homeworld,
Peryton, was far back on the timetable of Sentinels priorities.
Page 26
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Jack made a mental note to keep an eye on him, as well.
"Okay, uh, Janice." Jack decided that he might as well go on calling her that.
"What d'you need?"
"First, a proper interface." She led them off along the highway-wide catwalk;
they automatically took up tactical positions and intervals. They passed into
a smaller side passageway, one the VTs would never have managed.
The other raiders were jumpy, expecting Haydon IV to come up with new horrors,
but Jan seemed blithely confident that away from their Protoculture-powered
mecha and weapons they would no longer be considered invaders.
Janice's theory might be correct, but Jack still thought longingly of all the
firepower they had been forced to abandon.
Janice appeared to be finding her way like an Indian in deep forest, listening
and kind of sniffing the air currents as well as searching the
future-tech terrain with her gaze.
As they trailed along, they grew hotter. Lron and Crysta shed their outsize
flight suits completely, abandoning them except for helmets-and the commo
equipment in them-and the harnesses that held their gear and weapons.
Jack, Kami, and Learna removed their helmets as well, attaching them to their
web gear, and the two Garudans put on their special breather masks.
At last Janice stopped in another vast open place big enough to hold a
cruiser. Before them was a surprisingly delicate-looking affair that reminded
Jack of a filament-bright cat's cradle the size of the REF headquarters
building back on Tirol.
There were tiers of instrumentation all around; Jan selected one right away.
It only took her a moment or two to figure out which adapters to use, in which
configuration, and then she was ready.
Jack volunteered to make the connection. As he stood by with the plug in his
hand, Jan seemed to revert to her Human side again. "If you see me go into
overload, get the plug out at once. I mean, right away, okay Jack?"
"Sure; right." It hadn't occurred to him that she was risking her life-if that
was the correct term. He nervously worked his fingers in his flight glove,
hoping it would insulate him from any power surges.
With Jan holding her hair aside again, he took a deep breath and plugged the
adapter into the outlet in her neck. Banks of peripheral instrumentation came
alive in light of various colors and a deep humming filled the chamber;
the humming rose in pitch until it sounded like a synthesized choir.
A glow sprang out from Janice Em, and Jack nearly pulled the plug, but she
managed in a breathless voice, "Don't...don't."
Jack stepped back to watch as she was bathed in radiance. He thought he could
sense conversations being held all around him, and the flow of rivers of
information. He spun to see how the other raiders were weathering.
Bela and Gnea were unafraid, but had closed ranks. Lron and Crysta had their
weapons in their hands, but didn't look like they were going to blow holes in
anything; their service in the Sentinels had taught them a certain
self-control.
Kami and Learna were looking about them in rapture, and Jack wondered what
they were seeing and hearing. They were inhaling through their breather masks,
drawing the atmosphere of Garuda, with its myriad microscopic symbiotes, into
their lungs. He knew they were in the expanded mindstate of hin, and wished he
could know how the systemry of Haydon IV was manifesting itself to them.
The two lesser Invid POWs, Garak and Pye, were cringing in a corner, but
Tesla had drawn himself up to his full height, hands reaching into the air
imploringly. He lurched toward a stack of control panels and indicators like a
long-lost lover.
Jack squeezed off a short burst into the decking in the scientist's path,
tracers drawing bright warning lines, ricochets glancing away into the
distance. Tesla stopped as if someone had slapped him out of a trance, gazing
down at the dully gleaming bullet-smears of lead at his feet.
Page 27
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Jack had the submachine gun up to his shoulder, Tesla bracketed in the sight
blades. Tesla moved back a step, and then another, until he was back where he
had been standing. Jack stole a quick glance aside at Burak, who was fingering
his Garudan small arm, a thing that looked like a grappling hook.
Burak looked indecisive, but it was plain that he was furious with
Jack's intervention. Then a hand fell on Burak's shoulder. Bela had shouldered
her crossbow and held her shortsword in her other hand. Gnea held her halberd
ready. There was no struggle, only an understanding that Burak was to lower
his weapon and stand his ground, or else see his head fly from his shoulders.
He chose the former option.
Wise decision, Jack thought. Otherwise those ladies would probably have your
horns on their living-room wall, kid.
"Look!" Jack pivoted, seeing what Crysta was bellowing about. His jaw dropped.
Janice Em was still wrapped in a strobing aurora, but she was changing
appearance. One moment, she was the Janice who had sung with Minmei and later
joined the Sentinels. The next, she was the Artificial Person she had revealed
herself to be. Then she was something even more disturbing-a transparent Human
being or a Spherisian. And after that she flickered, seeming to be a
Haydonite, with their smooth lack of features, an ectoplasmic robe flowing
around her as she hovered above the decking.
The brilliance grew more intense, so that they could barely endure it.
Jack thought about spraying a burst into the machinery or turning a random
control, but decided that might get them into even worse trouble.
A wind swept through the mammoth chamber, and somewhere in the center of the
light Janice was shifting through various forms-some Human, some not. Kami was
baying in hysteria, and Tesla was screaming, while Lron had both hands clapped [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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more on the order of a realignment of loyalties.
Burak had been growing a little unstable. He resented it that his homeworld,
Peryton, was far back on the timetable of Sentinels priorities.
Page 26
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Jack made a mental note to keep an eye on him, as well.
"Okay, uh, Janice." Jack decided that he might as well go on calling her that.
"What d'you need?"
"First, a proper interface." She led them off along the highway-wide catwalk;
they automatically took up tactical positions and intervals. They passed into
a smaller side passageway, one the VTs would never have managed.
The other raiders were jumpy, expecting Haydon IV to come up with new horrors,
but Jan seemed blithely confident that away from their Protoculture-powered
mecha and weapons they would no longer be considered invaders.
Janice's theory might be correct, but Jack still thought longingly of all the
firepower they had been forced to abandon.
Janice appeared to be finding her way like an Indian in deep forest, listening
and kind of sniffing the air currents as well as searching the
future-tech terrain with her gaze.
As they trailed along, they grew hotter. Lron and Crysta shed their outsize
flight suits completely, abandoning them except for helmets-and the commo
equipment in them-and the harnesses that held their gear and weapons.
Jack, Kami, and Learna removed their helmets as well, attaching them to their
web gear, and the two Garudans put on their special breather masks.
At last Janice stopped in another vast open place big enough to hold a
cruiser. Before them was a surprisingly delicate-looking affair that reminded
Jack of a filament-bright cat's cradle the size of the REF headquarters
building back on Tirol.
There were tiers of instrumentation all around; Jan selected one right away.
It only took her a moment or two to figure out which adapters to use, in which
configuration, and then she was ready.
Jack volunteered to make the connection. As he stood by with the plug in his
hand, Jan seemed to revert to her Human side again. "If you see me go into
overload, get the plug out at once. I mean, right away, okay Jack?"
"Sure; right." It hadn't occurred to him that she was risking her life-if that
was the correct term. He nervously worked his fingers in his flight glove,
hoping it would insulate him from any power surges.
With Jan holding her hair aside again, he took a deep breath and plugged the
adapter into the outlet in her neck. Banks of peripheral instrumentation came
alive in light of various colors and a deep humming filled the chamber;
the humming rose in pitch until it sounded like a synthesized choir.
A glow sprang out from Janice Em, and Jack nearly pulled the plug, but she
managed in a breathless voice, "Don't...don't."
Jack stepped back to watch as she was bathed in radiance. He thought he could
sense conversations being held all around him, and the flow of rivers of
information. He spun to see how the other raiders were weathering.
Bela and Gnea were unafraid, but had closed ranks. Lron and Crysta had their
weapons in their hands, but didn't look like they were going to blow holes in
anything; their service in the Sentinels had taught them a certain
self-control.
Kami and Learna were looking about them in rapture, and Jack wondered what
they were seeing and hearing. They were inhaling through their breather masks,
drawing the atmosphere of Garuda, with its myriad microscopic symbiotes, into
their lungs. He knew they were in the expanded mindstate of hin, and wished he
could know how the systemry of Haydon IV was manifesting itself to them.
The two lesser Invid POWs, Garak and Pye, were cringing in a corner, but
Tesla had drawn himself up to his full height, hands reaching into the air
imploringly. He lurched toward a stack of control panels and indicators like a
long-lost lover.
Jack squeezed off a short burst into the decking in the scientist's path,
tracers drawing bright warning lines, ricochets glancing away into the
distance. Tesla stopped as if someone had slapped him out of a trance, gazing
down at the dully gleaming bullet-smears of lead at his feet.
Page 27
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Jack had the submachine gun up to his shoulder, Tesla bracketed in the sight
blades. Tesla moved back a step, and then another, until he was back where he
had been standing. Jack stole a quick glance aside at Burak, who was fingering
his Garudan small arm, a thing that looked like a grappling hook.
Burak looked indecisive, but it was plain that he was furious with
Jack's intervention. Then a hand fell on Burak's shoulder. Bela had shouldered
her crossbow and held her shortsword in her other hand. Gnea held her halberd
ready. There was no struggle, only an understanding that Burak was to lower
his weapon and stand his ground, or else see his head fly from his shoulders.
He chose the former option.
Wise decision, Jack thought. Otherwise those ladies would probably have your
horns on their living-room wall, kid.
"Look!" Jack pivoted, seeing what Crysta was bellowing about. His jaw dropped.
Janice Em was still wrapped in a strobing aurora, but she was changing
appearance. One moment, she was the Janice who had sung with Minmei and later
joined the Sentinels. The next, she was the Artificial Person she had revealed
herself to be. Then she was something even more disturbing-a transparent Human
being or a Spherisian. And after that she flickered, seeming to be a
Haydonite, with their smooth lack of features, an ectoplasmic robe flowing
around her as she hovered above the decking.
The brilliance grew more intense, so that they could barely endure it.
Jack thought about spraying a burst into the machinery or turning a random
control, but decided that might get them into even worse trouble.
A wind swept through the mammoth chamber, and somewhere in the center of the
light Janice was shifting through various forms-some Human, some not. Kami was
baying in hysteria, and Tesla was screaming, while Lron had both hands clapped [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]