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.Through the binoculars Jon could see three figures in desert costumes being dragged out."It's Bergen, Wauk, and Hargen, they've been taken prisoner."The surviving mantids, lead by Braunt's and the turtle, roared toward the ramp.Behind them sprang the fleet footed cyborgs.The Elchites fired, a crescendo in the confined, echoing space.Their bullets exploded in a fury of smoke and metal splinters on the distant tread.The cyborgs did not return fire but continued to sprint toward them.The Elchites' fire was accurate, they were well trained in the use of firearms, still it was difficult to stop the shock troopers; direct hits had to pierce the armored brain pan to really damage the things.The great outer door creaked open slowly behind them.The turtle slammed to a halt, bouncing its rubber apron off the eternite ramp flange.Gelgo Chacks helped Finn M'Nee out.Braunt, carrying a rifle, ran forward."Did you see those things?" he said in a shocked voice."That's part of the reason we are here," said the Elchite Acolyte Aul."All of this abuse of human beings must stop.""Those things aren't human.""Not entirely, the laowon have seen to that."Braunt added his fire to theirs, still the cyborgs ran forward and many more were coming into view.The remaining mantids finally sank down by the ramp.The Orners and Angle Umpuk scrambled up to the airlock."Hurry now, everyone inside," the Bey said, his voice shaking from nervousness.They turned and ran for the lock.The cyborgs were closing fast.Jon got off another clip, he hit one trooper, saw puffs rise from the black and blue uniform before the figure staggered.Then it shook off the impacts and resumed running.The great door was closing.He slipped inside, turned back as three cyborgs hurdled the turtle to land on the ramp flange then leap for the closing lock.One flew straight in, caromed off the wall and landed upside down in the corner.The others were caught in the door, which closed on their waists.The one in the corner sprang backward, erect, in time to catch the first three bullets from the Taw Taw longbarrel.They staggered it, but its own gun came up and a demiclip began ricocheting around the metal bubble of the airlock interior.Jon fired again and again, the shots knocking the cyborg skull back, slamming it into a wall, until finally something broke and it slumped backward in a heap.With a slight squeal of effort the huge door was crushing the trapped troopers.To Jon's horror the cyborg upper halves still functioned.An arm shot out, seized Owlcurl Dahn and jerked her to the door.The mote was activating the inner door of the airlock, and Jon heard it begin to move with a faint hiss."Turn your head!" he screamed to Dahn and fired into the cyborg's skull.Three shots were fired before it consented to die.There had been carnage in the airlock.Two of the young Elchites, Dekter and Aul had been hit hard, as had been Captain Hawkstone, who'd taken a round through the neck.He lay in a lanky tangle of limbs, blood surrounding him in a widening pool.Jon fought to pry Owlcurl loose from the trooper's closed fist but could barely move the steel-reinforced fingers.He reached down for his monofil blade, snapped it open, and slashed through the cyborg's wrist.With a tortured sob, Owlcurl Dahn pulled herself away from the thing.She began working the clenched hand down her arm like some obscene bracelet.Jon, meanwhile, had discovered a trickle of blood on his leg, where a bullet had broken the skin, leaving an inch-long gash.Officer Dahn broke down for a moment at the sight of Hawkstone.She investigated the body, tears streaming down her face.A strange smell filled the air, salty, corrupt, it made goose flesh on their skins all of a sudden.They crowded around Eblis Bey who stood inside the darkness, his lamp making a small pool of light against its envelope.Jon felt a sense of foreboding as he gazed into the blackness."Where are the risers?"The Bey aimed his torch along a smooth-walled tubular corridor lined with what seemed to be orange-brown scales.Along the ceiling ran something like an oversized zipper.The tube curved away into darkness."They will be about one hundred paces down there." The Bey looked back into the airlock."Who is hurt?""Acolyte Aul is dead, Mr.Bey," Officer Dahn said."As is the Captain.Dekter is very badly wounded, I think he will die, too, unless we can get him medical attention very shortly.""Can he be moved?" the Bey said.Dahn shook her head."There's a hole the size of your fist in his back.We left the medical supplies in the mantids; I have nothing to stanch his wounds with.It would probably be best to leave him for the laowon.They might put him into surgery to preserve any information he might have."Then they heard a faint screech of metal on metal on the outside of the lock where a dozen cyborg troopers were attempting to pry the door open."The ones caught in the door must have kept it open a fraction, they're trying to exploit it," Jon called."We must go on then.We will have to leave Dekter for the moment, Dahn.Come, quickly, to the risers." The Bey turned and motioned in the proper direction with his arm.The inner lock door began to close.They pulled their torches and ran down the tube to the risers.The walls, floor, and ceiling all shared the characteristic motif of scales, each plate being about the size of a man's palm.At irregular intervals along the ceiling were circular protrusions of some rough, fibrous material about a foot in diameter.The scales fitted seamlessly around them, no purpose for the things was apparent.The risers were simply larger tubes that sank through ceiling and floor.Oval cutaways gave access.There were no doors.The Bey stepped into one, and was immediately carried up on an invisible force.The risers were set in a cluster of four so they rose in groups of four, floating upward on the back of an invisible force through total darkness.Jon commented on the lack of lights as he floated up beside the Bey and Officer Dahn."Yes, it was the same when we first came here, so long ago.Perhaps it is another facet of the ancients' frugality.Perhaps they were accustomed to functioning at dim light levels.Whatever their reasons, the interior of the machine is mostly dark."By then they had reached a bigger space, they rose no farther and had to step out of the way of those rising beneath them.Once again they stood on a solid floor, their lights the only ones to break the absolute blackness around them."Try to find a light switch Rhap Dimp," the Bey said.Rhap Dimple floated up to the ceiling and connected with a socket.A moment later a few lights set sparsely around the room, came on.The scales were much larger in there and the light made them shine a glossy gold [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Through the binoculars Jon could see three figures in desert costumes being dragged out."It's Bergen, Wauk, and Hargen, they've been taken prisoner."The surviving mantids, lead by Braunt's and the turtle, roared toward the ramp.Behind them sprang the fleet footed cyborgs.The Elchites fired, a crescendo in the confined, echoing space.Their bullets exploded in a fury of smoke and metal splinters on the distant tread.The cyborgs did not return fire but continued to sprint toward them.The Elchites' fire was accurate, they were well trained in the use of firearms, still it was difficult to stop the shock troopers; direct hits had to pierce the armored brain pan to really damage the things.The great outer door creaked open slowly behind them.The turtle slammed to a halt, bouncing its rubber apron off the eternite ramp flange.Gelgo Chacks helped Finn M'Nee out.Braunt, carrying a rifle, ran forward."Did you see those things?" he said in a shocked voice."That's part of the reason we are here," said the Elchite Acolyte Aul."All of this abuse of human beings must stop.""Those things aren't human.""Not entirely, the laowon have seen to that."Braunt added his fire to theirs, still the cyborgs ran forward and many more were coming into view.The remaining mantids finally sank down by the ramp.The Orners and Angle Umpuk scrambled up to the airlock."Hurry now, everyone inside," the Bey said, his voice shaking from nervousness.They turned and ran for the lock.The cyborgs were closing fast.Jon got off another clip, he hit one trooper, saw puffs rise from the black and blue uniform before the figure staggered.Then it shook off the impacts and resumed running.The great door was closing.He slipped inside, turned back as three cyborgs hurdled the turtle to land on the ramp flange then leap for the closing lock.One flew straight in, caromed off the wall and landed upside down in the corner.The others were caught in the door, which closed on their waists.The one in the corner sprang backward, erect, in time to catch the first three bullets from the Taw Taw longbarrel.They staggered it, but its own gun came up and a demiclip began ricocheting around the metal bubble of the airlock interior.Jon fired again and again, the shots knocking the cyborg skull back, slamming it into a wall, until finally something broke and it slumped backward in a heap.With a slight squeal of effort the huge door was crushing the trapped troopers.To Jon's horror the cyborg upper halves still functioned.An arm shot out, seized Owlcurl Dahn and jerked her to the door.The mote was activating the inner door of the airlock, and Jon heard it begin to move with a faint hiss."Turn your head!" he screamed to Dahn and fired into the cyborg's skull.Three shots were fired before it consented to die.There had been carnage in the airlock.Two of the young Elchites, Dekter and Aul had been hit hard, as had been Captain Hawkstone, who'd taken a round through the neck.He lay in a lanky tangle of limbs, blood surrounding him in a widening pool.Jon fought to pry Owlcurl loose from the trooper's closed fist but could barely move the steel-reinforced fingers.He reached down for his monofil blade, snapped it open, and slashed through the cyborg's wrist.With a tortured sob, Owlcurl Dahn pulled herself away from the thing.She began working the clenched hand down her arm like some obscene bracelet.Jon, meanwhile, had discovered a trickle of blood on his leg, where a bullet had broken the skin, leaving an inch-long gash.Officer Dahn broke down for a moment at the sight of Hawkstone.She investigated the body, tears streaming down her face.A strange smell filled the air, salty, corrupt, it made goose flesh on their skins all of a sudden.They crowded around Eblis Bey who stood inside the darkness, his lamp making a small pool of light against its envelope.Jon felt a sense of foreboding as he gazed into the blackness."Where are the risers?"The Bey aimed his torch along a smooth-walled tubular corridor lined with what seemed to be orange-brown scales.Along the ceiling ran something like an oversized zipper.The tube curved away into darkness."They will be about one hundred paces down there." The Bey looked back into the airlock."Who is hurt?""Acolyte Aul is dead, Mr.Bey," Officer Dahn said."As is the Captain.Dekter is very badly wounded, I think he will die, too, unless we can get him medical attention very shortly.""Can he be moved?" the Bey said.Dahn shook her head."There's a hole the size of your fist in his back.We left the medical supplies in the mantids; I have nothing to stanch his wounds with.It would probably be best to leave him for the laowon.They might put him into surgery to preserve any information he might have."Then they heard a faint screech of metal on metal on the outside of the lock where a dozen cyborg troopers were attempting to pry the door open."The ones caught in the door must have kept it open a fraction, they're trying to exploit it," Jon called."We must go on then.We will have to leave Dekter for the moment, Dahn.Come, quickly, to the risers." The Bey turned and motioned in the proper direction with his arm.The inner lock door began to close.They pulled their torches and ran down the tube to the risers.The walls, floor, and ceiling all shared the characteristic motif of scales, each plate being about the size of a man's palm.At irregular intervals along the ceiling were circular protrusions of some rough, fibrous material about a foot in diameter.The scales fitted seamlessly around them, no purpose for the things was apparent.The risers were simply larger tubes that sank through ceiling and floor.Oval cutaways gave access.There were no doors.The Bey stepped into one, and was immediately carried up on an invisible force.The risers were set in a cluster of four so they rose in groups of four, floating upward on the back of an invisible force through total darkness.Jon commented on the lack of lights as he floated up beside the Bey and Officer Dahn."Yes, it was the same when we first came here, so long ago.Perhaps it is another facet of the ancients' frugality.Perhaps they were accustomed to functioning at dim light levels.Whatever their reasons, the interior of the machine is mostly dark."By then they had reached a bigger space, they rose no farther and had to step out of the way of those rising beneath them.Once again they stood on a solid floor, their lights the only ones to break the absolute blackness around them."Try to find a light switch Rhap Dimp," the Bey said.Rhap Dimple floated up to the ceiling and connected with a socket.A moment later a few lights set sparsely around the room, came on.The scales were much larger in there and the light made them shine a glossy gold [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]