[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
On the Southern horizon the sun seemed to be rising. The sky had become a
pale, rich blue which shaded through turquoise into black, and the bases of
the distant clouds burned pink and gold. Then before they could appreciate, or
even react to this glorious, misplaced sunrise it had faded to an angry red
smudge on the horizon. They felt a tiny shock transmitted through the soles of
their shoes, and a little later they heard a noise like distant thunder.
"Lonvellin's ship!" said Stillman.
They began to run.
CHAPTER 11
The communications room on Vespasian was a whirlwind of activity with the
Captain forming its calm and purposeful center. When Stillman and Conway
Page 52
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
arrived orders had gone out to the courier ship and all available helicopters
to load decontamination and rescue gear and proceed to the blast area to
render all possible aid. There was, of course, no hope for the Etlan force
which had been surrounding Lonvellin's ship, but there were isolated farms and
at least one small village on the fringe area. The rescuers would have to deal
with panic as well as radiation casualties, because the Etlans had no
experience of nuclear explosions and would almost certainly resist evacuation.
Out on the field, when Conway had seen Lonvellin's ship go up and had realized
what it meant, he had felt physically ill. And now, listening to
Williamson's urgent but unhurried orders going out, he felt cold sweat trickle
down his forehead and spine. He licked his lips and said, "Captain, I have an
urgent suggestion to make..
He did not speak loudly, but there was something in his tone which made
Williamson swing around immediately.
"This accident to Lonvellin means that you are in charge of the project,
Doctor," Williamson said impatiently. "There is no need for such diffidence."
"In that case," said Conway in the same low, tense voice, "I have orders for
you. Call off the rescue attempts and order everyone back to the ship. Take
off before we are bombed, too..
Conway saw them all looking at him, at his white, sweating face and frightened
eyes, and he could see them all jumping to wrong conclusions.
Williamson looked angry, embarrassed and completely at a loss for a few
seconds, then his expression hardened. He turned to an officer beside him,
snapped an order, then swung to face Conway again.
"Doctor," he began stiffly, "I have just put out our secondary meteor shield.
Any solid object greater than one inch in diameter approaching from any
direction whatever will be detected at a distance of one hundred miles and
automatically deflected by pressors. So I can assure you, Doctor, that we are
in no danger from any hypothetical attack with atomic missiles. The idea of a
nuclear bombardment here is ridiculous, anyway. There is no atomic power on
Etla, none whatever. We have instruments. . . You must have read the report.
"My suggestion," the Captain went on, in exactly the tone he used to suggest
that the junior astrogator make an alteration in course, "is that we rush all
possible help to the survivors of the blow-up, which must have been caused by
a fault in Lonvellin's power pile..."
"Lonvellin wouldn't have a faulty pile!" Conway said harshly. "Like many
long-lived beings it suffered from a constant and increasing fear of death the
longer its life went on. It had the ultimate in personal physicians so that
illness would not shorten its already tremendous life span, and it follows
that it would not have endangered itself by using a ship which was anything
but mechanically perfect.
"Lonvellin was killed," Conway went on grimly, "and the reason they hit its
ship first is probably because they dislike e-ts so much. And it's nice to
know that you can protect the ship, but if we leave now they might not launch
another missile at all, and our people out there and a lot more Etlans would
not have to die...
It was no good, Conway thought sickly. Williamson looked angry and embarrassed
and stubborn-angry at being given apparently senseless orders, embarrassed
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]