James Follett Earthsearch 03 Deathship

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she answered. "If that thing is a Class Five, then the Challenger should not
be navigated within five light-weeks of it."
"So," continued Telson. "I suggest that you and Elka go to the main
control room now, reorientate the ship, and apply maximum photonic thrust."
Elka giggled.
"I'm glad you find it amusing," Telson commented acidly.
"Oh it's not that," said Elka brightly. "It's just that we--'
"Elka," Bran interrupted warningly.
"If that spooky blotch is dangerous, then maybe they ought to be told,"
said Elka, smiling inanely around at everyone.
"We should say nothing," said Bran coldly.
Elka's smile vanished. There was a sudden and uncharacteristic hard look
in her eyes. She said quietly: "I will say whatever I wish to say, Bran."
Bran tensed. For a moment it looked as if his customary iciness was about
to desert him. He was about to say something and then seemed to change his
mind. He shrugged.
"You see, people," said Elka. "It's like this. We don't actually know
where the main control room is."
The four stared disbelievingly at her.
"We've heard of it, of course. We knew that the angels had moved it or
something when they rebuilt the ship, but they always said that we needn't
bother about it. I mean - well - they look after everything, don't they?"
"Until now," observed Telson. He looked at Elka and Bran in turn. "Don't
you have any idea at all where the main control room is?"
Their silence answered his question.
"That can only mean that it's under android control."
"Does it matter?" said Bran disinterestedly.
"It matters a lot," said Sharna. "The original builders of this ship
designed the main control room for operation by a minimum of four people
because they didn't trust freewill computers. Using surgical androids to man
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the control room was our idea, but only for short periods, and certainly not
for long periods with people on board. Surgical androids are good, but not
that good." Sharna paused and nodded to the nearest voice terminal. "And right
now it would seem that the angels are useless."
"Why?" asked Elka.
"Those noises are destroying them faster than they can recover," Telson
replied. "That's the real reason why they want to increase the thickness of
the Challenger's skin. It's their desperate hope that it'll protect them." He
regarded Bran steadily and added: "All that talk about improving the meteoroid
shielding is nonsense that only a child would swallow."
Bran ignored Telson and looked up at a voice terminal. "Angel One!" he
called out.
There was no reply.
"Angel One! Angel Two! This is Bran. Will you answer please. . ."
Again silence. Bran called several more times but there was still no
answer. It took a considerable amount of will power on his part to assume an
unconcerned expression as he gazed for a few seconds at the black hole. Telson
wasn't fooled.
"How much is that thing affecting us?" asked Bran.
"This is the observatory -- these instruments are not navigation
instruments like those in the main control room," said Sharna. "Without the
angels' help, getting exact figures will be impossible, but I daresay Astra
and I could work out some rough estimates. But if you want hard information
for evasive action, then we'd better find the main control room and find it
fast."
Another attack started just as she finished speaking.
* * * *
Stage by stage, Angel One was forced to abandon control over the
Challenger in order to maintain her essential regeneration facilities and
those belonging to Angel Two. Monitoring levels were closed down and most of
the normal day-to-day background tasks such as the routine reprogramming of
the service androids were suspended.
Repeated attempts to contact Android Surgeon-General Kraken commanding
the main control room proved fruitless. The mighty android had been designed
to operate alone for long periods, but it was more than possible that the
attacks had damaged his facilities for logical behaviour.
* * * * Darv swore when he rounded the corner of the corridor and
saw the ugly steel bulkhead that blocked the passage.
"Another dead end down here," he called out to Telson and Bran as they
joined him.
"Give me the radio collar," said Telson curtly to Bran. The youth opened
his mouth to protest but Telson cut him short. "Don't argue, Bran! Give me the
collar!"
Bran unclipped the collar from around his neck and handed it Telson
without comment. The sudden loss of his mentors, the guardian angels, had
undermined his self-confidence and arrogance to a certain extent.
"Anything, Astra?" said Telson into the radio collar.
"Nothing to report on our level," Astra replied. "There doesn't seem to
be any undefined space that could accommodate the control room. Elka's
checking the last corridor on our level now."
Darv knelt down in front of the bulkhead and ran his hands over the rough
steel.
"We've had no luck either," said Telson. "Nothing but dead ends. Let me
know before you move to another level. Out."
Bran held out his hand for the collar. For a moment Telson considered not
returning it but decided that it would be best not to goad his son too far.
Not just yet.
"Thank you, Telson," said Bran, snapping the radio collar back into
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place. "Tell me, what if we do find the control room?"
"Then we take control of the ship, of course."
"I control the ship, Telson. Let us be quiet clear on that point."
This was too much for Telson's short fuse. "Now you listen to me--'
"I think the sensible view is that we concentrate on finding the control
room," Bran interrupted, raising his voice.
"I think we've found it," said Darv suddenly.
The two protagonists broke off and stared down at Darv who was still on
his knees before the bulkhead.
"We're pretty certain that this was the level that the old control room
used to be on," said Darv. "Supposing the angels didn't move it but merely
relocated all the surrounding approaches to it and sealed it off with these
bulkheads? That would be much easier from the engineering point of view." He
gave Telson and Bran a broad grin and gestured at the bulkhead. "So if we were
to try moving in a straight line instead of following the corridors. . ."
Telson broke the brief silence that followed. "Bran, give me your PD
weapon."
Bran laughed.
"All right then," said Telson, pointing at the bulkhead. "You do it. Cut
a hole through that and no arguments please."
For a moment it looked as if Bran was about to lose his temper. His face
went white and he turned to face Telson. At that moment Darv sprang and
twisted both Bran's arms behind his back. The momentum of his lunge slammed
the youth against the side of the corridor. He gave a gasp of pain.
"Lesson one," breathed Darv, holding Bran pinioned against the wall.
"Never turn your back on the enemy."
Telson yanked Bran's PD weapon from its holster and levelled the weapon
at his son. "Okay, Darv. Let him go."
Bran glowered resentfully at both men. Telson lowered the PD weapon. He
seemed uncertain what to do next. And then, to Darv's amazement, he reversed
the weapon and held it out to Bran.
"Burn a hole through that bulkhead please, son."
Bran took the weapon without a murmur and pointed it at the bulkhead. He
opened fire as soon as Darv and Telson had moved clear. He adjusted the angle [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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