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wiretap^transcriptions. "Just an idea," Ooljee told her. "Well, you have to stop it. Now. Immediately." "You can't?" Moody asked her. She started to snap at him, then caught herself. Maybe it was his attitude, maybe his size. "What do you think we've been trying to do?" A hand flailed in the direction of the nearest console and its baffled operator. ' 'Everything is powering up, nothing is shutting off, and our backups and fail-safes might as well be out for repair. And what is that noise outside?" Even within the room the invaders' eerie chorus made itself known, though it was in danger of being drowned out by the rising whine of machinery coming on line. "He is using the web." Ooljee glanced through the window at the corridor beyond. "That must be how he is bypassing (his place." "So we can't stop him?" Grayhills stepped forward. "Apparently not from running the accelerator, but I don't see anything to keep us from pulling the plug." The chief engineer glanced sharply at her. "Don't you think we've tried that?" Grayhills stood her ground. "Sometimes a switch isn't the best way to deactivate a recalcitrant device." Moody and Ooljee left in a hurry, gathering up the NDPS corporal and two plainclothes on the way. Grayhills eyed the engineer. "What's your current study setup?" The woman hesitated, then replied laconically, "We've been working with Z-particle collisions, but that was two weeks ago." She forced herself to look back at the screens. "Why would anyone want to take control of the unit? There's nothing on line, no experiment to run." Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html "Maybe the man we suspect of causing this has another use for some runaway protons." The engineer shook her head violently. "A Moebial to-roid accelerator doesn't work like that. You don't just fire it up and dispense protons like candy!" Her nails dug into her palms. "All this can do is ruin some very expensive machinery." "I don't think that's what he has in mind." Grayhills studied a readout. "Then what does he have in mind?" "I wish I knew. I wish I knew," she muttered. "Outside, by the south end of employee parking!" The corporal led the way as they exited the building. One of his men jogged anxiously alongside. "Sir, if we're gonna disconnect lines, we ought to have somebody from APS do it. They'll have a truck and authorization." Moody glared back at him. "Son, we can't wait for the local utility company to show. Our job right now is to keep the man we're after from making use of this facility." He looked at the corporal. "I'll take full responsibility." "You can't," the younger man declared. "You're from out of state." "When your boss wakes up, tell him I insisted. Tell him I threatened you, if you want. It'll get y'all off the hook." The corporal nodded somberly. They could worry about it later. He'd seen too much already to argue with the two cops who'd flown in from Ganado. If they thought it necessary to shut down the power to the accelerator facility, he'd damn well help them to shut it down. The column of heavy-duty concrete power poles ran from a comer of the main building along the southern curb of a large parking lot. Like a spider clinging to its nest, the transformer attached to the last pole spun a net of heavy-gauge wires into the facility. "What now?" The corporal looked at Moody. The detective reached into his coat and removed his pistol. Bracing himself, he took careful aim at die transformer. The NDPS plainclothes who moments ago had voiced reservations as to this course of action backed away. "Oh, no. I am not taking any part in mis." * 'No one is asking you to.' * Ooljee drew his own weapon, pointed the barrel at the transformer. "This is unauthorized destruction of university property," the man added weakly. He glanced at his superior, who shrugged. "Tell it to the dead guy in the basement." Moody jerked his head at the building. As he did so, something caught his eye, and he lowered his gun. "Jesus Mary." His companions turned with him. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html The entire structure was enveloped in a pale, nacreous effulgence redolent of St. Elmo's fire. Clouds were gathering overhead, much more rapidly than clouds had a right to, even in this part of the world where sudden, violent thunderstorms were commonplace. As they stood watching numbly, rain began to fall; a steely, freezing mist. The temperature in the policing lot was not falling: it was fleeing. "Too much time talking." Ooljee grunted, whirling to take aim with his gun. His first shot missed, the second struck one of the insulators atop the pole. Moody stood next to his partner, firing steadily and methodically. One insulator after another exploded under the impact of the
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Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach. Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne. Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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