[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
went, no matter where it is. And O'Leary wants his gizmo back intact. They're
not going to hit us, nephew. They don't give a damn if
I get the thing working or not. If I go, they're free of having to deal with
me, my organization, my resources, all of it. If I don't, well, I'm going to
have to do the other thing."
"The other thing?"
"Download myself into the computer core here and prob-ably merge with it.
There's no other way. Either way it goes, this could be very, very
interesting."
Ari was frightened. "I'm not going to do it, Uncle! I'm not ready for that
!"
"Son, you got no choice at all," Jules Wallinchky told him. "You can do it as
a volunteer, you can do it like those two girls, or you can die. You got no
future anyway. You know too much, and no matter what I do to your head, the
Realm's got stuff that can recover some of it. No, nephew. You come with me or
the girls take you down to the med-lab." He sighed. "But not right now. I'm
starved and I could really use a good dinner, the best wine, all the best
stuff. We'll get the computer working on the problem now. Will you join me?"
Ari Martinez sighed, but nodded slowly. He was won-dering what the odds were
of knocking off his dear old mother's brother and getting away with it.
The City of the Ancient Ones, Grabant 4
Page 78
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
THE GREAT MACHINE OF THE ANCIENT ONES KNEW THAT SOMETHING
was up. It was clear to both Core and the two women that there was a lot more
activity below them and on the sur-face, much of it concentrating on the
ancient city. They could feel the lines of force, feel the energy in
intelligently directed patterns flowing on or near the surface. As before, it
was not something they could understand or connect with, but the fact that
what had been a rare occurrence was now almost common spoke volumes.
It knew!
Core knew it needed to pursue its own agenda, yet it could not violate its own
central programming, which placed Jules Wallinchky's interests paramount. It
couldn't quarrel with its master's series of probable outcomes, but it did
have a dif-ferent set of hopes. If what had happened to Josich Hadun happened
here, Core would much prefer that it conclude as a merger with the Ancient
Ones' great machine. Still, it had to prepare for any eventuality, and that
meant, if need be, preparing the two women for the eventuality of severing
con-tact with Core. Wallinchky wanted them programmed so they would protect
him and obey his commands no matter what happened to any of them. Core wanted
an imperative to con-tact it if at all possible.
The best that could be done would be to implant in them a drive to interface
with whatever was out there.
Core also wanted more of the human touch, or at least experience from that
prior existence, so they would be self-sufficient if need be. It would be
tricky, but it was possible.
Even a supreme computer couldn't think of everything, but it would try.
The Kharkovs had been unwilling to come, and in fact stated that they would be
delighted to become curators of the collection and at least ensure that it was
not harmed by whoever got it, which was not what
Wallinchky wanted, but was enough to satisfy his primary concerns. He knew
that the Kharkovs would be only superficially analyzed by the Realm, and the
cover story that they'd been engaged for restoration work, and only after
being stuck here, with only one of them allowed to go offworld at a time after
that, would be enough to absolve them of culpability.
"All right, so where is this gadget?" Ari asked over the suit intercom. The
environment suit had come a long way from primitive spacesuits of the past; it
was lightweight, fitted itself to the wearer, and had a small matter/energy/
matter converter that could supply basic sustenance and air and power to the
suit almost indefinitely. There was no way around the need to be completely
covered, of course, and while the helmet bubble was small and unobtrusive, it
was certainly there, magnifying sounds and also making every-thing seem
somewhat unnatural.
Ari hated the suits. If you got an itch, it was almost impossible to
satisfactorily scratch it without risking break-ing the seals.
"The girls are bringing the gadget, as you call it," Wal-linchky responded.
"See? There!"
Ari turned and saw two figures emerge from the surface level airlock carrying
what looked to be an enormous cir-cular box. It might have been the largest
trampoline in the Realm, but he knew it wasn't. The two small, frail-looking
women were handling the thing as if it weighed next to nothing; in fact, even
outside the artificial standard gravity of the compound, they and everything
else still weighed about seventy-five percent of normal, so if that thing was
as heavy in normal gravity as it looked, well, they might well be hefting
something close to half a ton.
"Is it that light, or are they really that strong?" he asked his uncle.
"A bit of both, actually. It is lighter than it looks, but I wouldn't want to
be one of those carrying it."
Ari looked around. "I feel so damned exposed out here. What if Genghis
Whatever and his buddy decide to just come on out and pop us cold?"
"They may come out indeed, I suspect at least one of them will but they won't
'pop us cold,' as you so color-fully put it. They don't want to damage this
thing, and, besides, they're within easy range of the main computer's
Page 79
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
defensive ring. We'll know when, and if, they emerge. Ah! Here we all are
together! Come, nephew! It's a good walk yet to the ruins!" Jules Wallinchky
gazed at the barren, dark landscape, the twisted spires, the yellow, brown,
crimson, and orange rock formations, and the almost black sky with its many
stars. "Beautiful day for a walk, if I do say so myself!"
The landscape was indeed bleak, but they walked along what seemed almost a
road. It wasn't much of one, but it was wide and unnaturally smooth, and sunk
into the bedrock about fifteen centimeters at the start and went deeper as
they approached the city on the horizon.
"What did you build this thing for?" An asked his uncle.
"I
didn't build it, nephew. It's part and parcel of that city up there. It's one
of many. There's a lot that's fascinating about this place. Now and then
you'll see the remnants of a crater, before we sink too deep to see a lot of
the surface detail. The craters are all younger than the road, but the road
has no crater marks.
Almost like . . . well, like it's main-tained for use."
"Creepy," Ari commented.
"It's like a lot of things they left. Ever been in one of these ruins before?"
"When I was a kid, for a short time, yeah. Not since. I barely remember it."
"Well, it's kind of like a template more than the ruins of a great
civilization. We have a nice roadbed here, but no sur-face, no signs or
adornments, no clue as to who or what moved along it. Why have roads if you
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]