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clenched into fists. Somewhere during her dive, she had dropped the glow-wand;
it lay a short distance from her feet, casting strong upward shadows across
her features.
The sound came again: a smash that echoed through the quiet computer room.
Festina grabbed up the light and disappeared around the bank of dead machines.
The sergeant and I ran after her; we were just turning the corner when we
heard a third kaboom. It was someone battering against the closed door to the
hallway, an unknown person trying to bash through. Already the door had a
conspicuous bend in it, though it was made of metal and appeared to be
moderately thick.
One more whump and the top of the door snapped out of its frame. It sagged
slightly inward, but not far enough to reveal who was hammering on the other
side. I quickly assumed an aggressive stance in case the intruders should
prove to be enemies perhaps the Shaddill had invaded the ship now that we had
no defenses. Festina, however, had put down her fists, and Aarhus was making
no effort to prepare for attack. They simply stood warily, clear of the
doorway, waiting for whoever came through.
Something struck the door with a fierce thud. The mangled metal could not
withstand this final impact it collapsed completely, propelled by a muscular
body that fell forward with the door onto the floor tiles.
Lajoolie looked up, blinking in the beam of Festina's light. Behind her,
Uclod and Dr. Havel peeked around the edge of the door frame; the watery-eyed
physician held a shining wand exactly like Festina's. Smiling down at
Lajoolie, Havel said, "Nothing like a Tye-Tye, ha-ha, when you have to make a
house call. Someone reported a poisoning?"
Medical Matters
The doctor hurried off to examine the woman in brown... or perhaps I should
call her Zuni, though I do not know if she deserves to be dignified with a
name. This Zuni was a spy and saboteur; I did not quite understand what she
had tried to do or what she accomplished instead, but the end result was
readily apparent. There was no light in the hallway, and no machinery sounds
either. "It appears," said I, "this vessel has slain itself."
"Yes," Havel called from the other side of the computer bank, "theHemlock has
taken hemlock, ha-ha."
If that was a joke, no one laughed. I asked, "Do all starships have suicidal
tendencies? Because I have only ridden in two such vessels, and both have
killed themselves within hours of my coming on board. This constitutes a
Disturbing Pattern... and I should like to point outI am not to blame."
"Don't get defensive," Festina said, patting my shoulder. "If anyone here is
a trouble magnet, it's me."
She turned to check on the others. Uclod was helping Lajoolie stand up after
bashing the door. He did not provide much practical assistance since his head
only came to her wallabies, he could not actually pull her up to her full
height but she held on to his hand anyway and tried not to look too encumbered
by him as she got to her feet.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" Uclod asked. His voice had a ragged edge to it and
his eyes were ringed with red, but it seemed he had finished weeping over his
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grandmother... at least for the moment. Lajoolie did not answer the little
man's question, but she pressed his hand softly to her stomach.
"All right," Festina said, "let's get to the bridge and see what the captain
can do about this mess. Havel," she called, "do you need any help?"
"No, Admiral, not right now," came a reply from the other side of the
computer bank. "Eventually we'll have to carry the patient to sick bay..."
"I'll send you some stretcher bearers," Festina said, "but I don't know if
sick bay is any better than here. Captain's Last Act will have killed all your
medical equipment."
"Oh dear, yes," Havel said. "Then maybe, ha-ha, it's best if we stay away
from the infirmary. The place is swarming with Analysis Nano, and without the
ship-soul controlling them... well, the eager little devils may get out of
hand. There was a case on Morrikeen where a clinic's power went down and every
last nanite decided to give the attending physician a blood test. Sucked the
poor fellow dry, ha-ha."
"Ha-ha indeed," Festina said. "And here I thought our only alternatives were
freezing to death or starvation. I love it when new options thrust themselves
forward." She made a face. "Come on let's find the captain."
Forging Forward
It turns out a starship has many many doors... which Sergeant Aarhus claimed
were not doors at all buthatches. Festina said I could still call them doors;
she reveled in the use of anti-nautical terms, because it vexed the ship's
normal crew. (She called regular crew members Vac-heads, which may or may not
have been because they spent their lives sailing through vacuum.)
Many of the hatch-doors were closed, and most were exceedingly stronger than
the one Lajoolie had broken. The biggest doors were designed to remain secure
despite vast extremes of air pressure; so thick, even I had no chance of
smashing through. Fortunately, such violence was not required though the doors
no longer opened automatically, they contained Cunningly Concealed Mechanisms
that allowed manual operation via wheels and cranks. Once Festina showed me
how these devices worked, I got to turnall the wheels... which I did most
prettily, ensuring our party's speedy progress toward the bridge.
We were not the only persons desirous of making contact with the captain. As
we moved forward through the ship, numerous crew members peeked out of
doorways, saw who we were, and joined our company. The newcomers did not
speak; I do not know if they were intimidated by my beauty, Festina's rank, or
Uclod's orangeness, but they seemed as shy as woodland creatures, keeping
their distance yet mutely following.
This muteness struck me as foolish. If I had not already known this darkness
was the result of a complicated computer tragedy, I should have been asking,
"What happened? What happened?" But then, I was not such a one as greatly
revered machines. Perhaps these humans were so cowed by the demise of their
ship, they had plunged into grief-stricken mourning.
Or perhaps they were not so much wallowing in sorrow as silently giddy with
excitement. It is Eerily Thrilling to walk through soundless corridors when
your only illumination is a tiny wand of silver, and the blackness stretches
for lightyears in all directions. You feel that anything could happen... and
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even if there is danger afoot, it will be vastly preferable to lying on the
floor with a Tired Brain.
Having a perilous adventure is always better than comatose safety. Always,
always, always, always, always.
In The Halls
I did not know how many hatches stood between us and the bridge... but I
could tell when I opened the last. As I pushed back the great thick door, I
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| Cytat |
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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