[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
with various buttons arranged on the columns, two pedals for her feet; various
dials, screens and touch-bolos, and a head-up display seemingly hovering in
mid-air in front of her.
She pressed a pedal; the monowheel's nose dipped. The other pedal brought it
level again. She took the hand controls and squeezed both; her left hand was
stiff and hurt a little, but it was bearable. There was a beeping noise from
the instruments. Nothing else happened until she let go the left grip. The
monowheel leapt forward, banging her head against the seat's head-rest.
`Stop!' Feril yelled.
She released the grip and they stopped quickly. She sensed the android turning
behind her.
`Oh well,' it said, turning back. `I don't believe you were too keen on that
young man, anyway.'
`Dead?' she asked.
`Thoroughly,' Feril said.
She found the lights and another holo display, switchable between radar,
ultrasound and passive EM. `Hell,' she said, `I had a unit like this on a bike
once.' She adjusted the display to optimum on EM.
She was sitting on the safety harness; she lifted, pulled the straps out and
fastened them round her. The holo
display showed the whole bunker ahead of her in grey; the roof had collapsed
in at least two places. The ramp she had been brought up was lying off to her
left.
There was a muffled rumble from above, followed by another hot gust of air.
`I think we should leave this place fairly soon,' Feril said.
`So do I,' she said. `Ready?'
`Ready. I suggest you head for the ramp.'
`On my way.' She pressed the right grip lightly, sending the monowheel humming
forward over the floor, then tipped the wheel; the vehicle turned. She looked
at the squashed body of the young emissary she'd kicked and then run over. The
monowheel was obviously quite heavy.
The other emissary lay still at the foot of the dais. His chest, neck and face
were still cooling. She thought she heard him moan.
She took the laser from her jacket, reached out over the side of the cockpit
and shot him twice in the head.
She paused just once more, at the other cooling body on the floor, then left
her image lying there and powered the monowheel down the ramp.
There was a door.
gust a minute,' Feril said. `This seems to require a fairly simple radio
code..'
The door trundled aside, revealing the short corridor walled with roller
doors.
`Well done,' she said, moving the monowheel forward.
`My pleasure.' The second roller door on the left rippled as a rumble of noise
sounded all about them. `The door opposite that, I think,' Feril said. `It
will require the vehicle's cannon.'
`Cannon?' she said, looking round at the android.
It nodded. `I believe this was a robo-tank hunter; a sporting vehicle used by
the Vrosal Moguls following the-'
Another blast shook the roller door.
`Aiming and firing controls?' she said quickly.
`You aim the whole vehicle,' Feril said. `The pedals control nose angle, the
red cursor on the head-up is aim-point and the red button on top of the left
hand-grip fires.'
She fired at the door; there was a burst of light from beneath the monowheel
Page 257
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
vehicle, an ear-ringing bang and a single small hole appeared in the roller
door. An instant later the door bulged and burst open as the shell exploded
behind it.
Wreckage tumbled past them; she ducked, glanced back at Feril, who seemed to
be unharmed, then eased the monowheel over the remains of the door. The
vehicle rolled with uncanny smoothness into a circular-section tunnel fitted
with twin toothed-metal rails. There were flat rail-cars sitting on the rails;
beyond them the tunnel spiralled upwards.
`This is how I was brought in,' Feril said. `I believe it leads to just below
the surface.'
`Maybe so, but how do we get over these flat cars?'
`I believe this vehicle is quite sophisticated for our. day; I suggest just
driving at them.'
`All right,' she said. She sent the monowheel forward slowly; it climbed over
the flat cars as though they weren't there. She looked back and shrugged, then
powered on up the spiral tunnel.
There were blast doors but they had all been opened.
The monowheel hummed up the spiral tunnel for several minutes without
incident, eventually emerging into an underground marshalling yard. She heard
heavy-calibre gunfire echoing in the distance and saw flashes reflect off the
ribbed grey concrete of the ceiling.
`That way, I think,' Feril said, pointing past some supporting columns, away
from the firing but towards an area of the yard where the view was hazed with
smoke.
The monowheel raced over a tracery of tracks, keeping perfectly stable. The
vehicle crossed a bridge over another level of the underground yard where
smoke billowed up; past the smoke they found the bodies of a Keep guard and
one of the original attackers. The Keep guard still clutched his rifle. He had
been beheaded, presumably by the bloody sword hanging by its lanyard from the
hand of the other dead man, who lay against the railings of the underground
bridge, his tunic blown almost right off by the grenade explosion that had
killed him.
She stared at the man's naked right arm as they passed, slowing down for a
better look.
She shook her head and accelerated again. The black mouth of another tunnel
expanded to swallow the speeding monowheel. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl chiara76.opx.pl
with various buttons arranged on the columns, two pedals for her feet; various
dials, screens and touch-bolos, and a head-up display seemingly hovering in
mid-air in front of her.
She pressed a pedal; the monowheel's nose dipped. The other pedal brought it
level again. She took the hand controls and squeezed both; her left hand was
stiff and hurt a little, but it was bearable. There was a beeping noise from
the instruments. Nothing else happened until she let go the left grip. The
monowheel leapt forward, banging her head against the seat's head-rest.
`Stop!' Feril yelled.
She released the grip and they stopped quickly. She sensed the android turning
behind her.
`Oh well,' it said, turning back. `I don't believe you were too keen on that
young man, anyway.'
`Dead?' she asked.
`Thoroughly,' Feril said.
She found the lights and another holo display, switchable between radar,
ultrasound and passive EM. `Hell,' she said, `I had a unit like this on a bike
once.' She adjusted the display to optimum on EM.
She was sitting on the safety harness; she lifted, pulled the straps out and
fastened them round her. The holo
display showed the whole bunker ahead of her in grey; the roof had collapsed
in at least two places. The ramp she had been brought up was lying off to her
left.
There was a muffled rumble from above, followed by another hot gust of air.
`I think we should leave this place fairly soon,' Feril said.
`So do I,' she said. `Ready?'
`Ready. I suggest you head for the ramp.'
`On my way.' She pressed the right grip lightly, sending the monowheel humming
forward over the floor, then tipped the wheel; the vehicle turned. She looked
at the squashed body of the young emissary she'd kicked and then run over. The
monowheel was obviously quite heavy.
The other emissary lay still at the foot of the dais. His chest, neck and face
were still cooling. She thought she heard him moan.
She took the laser from her jacket, reached out over the side of the cockpit
and shot him twice in the head.
She paused just once more, at the other cooling body on the floor, then left
her image lying there and powered the monowheel down the ramp.
There was a door.
gust a minute,' Feril said. `This seems to require a fairly simple radio
code..'
The door trundled aside, revealing the short corridor walled with roller
doors.
`Well done,' she said, moving the monowheel forward.
`My pleasure.' The second roller door on the left rippled as a rumble of noise
sounded all about them. `The door opposite that, I think,' Feril said. `It
will require the vehicle's cannon.'
`Cannon?' she said, looking round at the android.
It nodded. `I believe this was a robo-tank hunter; a sporting vehicle used by
the Vrosal Moguls following the-'
Another blast shook the roller door.
`Aiming and firing controls?' she said quickly.
`You aim the whole vehicle,' Feril said. `The pedals control nose angle, the
red cursor on the head-up is aim-point and the red button on top of the left
hand-grip fires.'
She fired at the door; there was a burst of light from beneath the monowheel
Page 257
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
vehicle, an ear-ringing bang and a single small hole appeared in the roller
door. An instant later the door bulged and burst open as the shell exploded
behind it.
Wreckage tumbled past them; she ducked, glanced back at Feril, who seemed to
be unharmed, then eased the monowheel over the remains of the door. The
vehicle rolled with uncanny smoothness into a circular-section tunnel fitted
with twin toothed-metal rails. There were flat rail-cars sitting on the rails;
beyond them the tunnel spiralled upwards.
`This is how I was brought in,' Feril said. `I believe it leads to just below
the surface.'
`Maybe so, but how do we get over these flat cars?'
`I believe this vehicle is quite sophisticated for our. day; I suggest just
driving at them.'
`All right,' she said. She sent the monowheel forward slowly; it climbed over
the flat cars as though they weren't there. She looked back and shrugged, then
powered on up the spiral tunnel.
There were blast doors but they had all been opened.
The monowheel hummed up the spiral tunnel for several minutes without
incident, eventually emerging into an underground marshalling yard. She heard
heavy-calibre gunfire echoing in the distance and saw flashes reflect off the
ribbed grey concrete of the ceiling.
`That way, I think,' Feril said, pointing past some supporting columns, away
from the firing but towards an area of the yard where the view was hazed with
smoke.
The monowheel raced over a tracery of tracks, keeping perfectly stable. The
vehicle crossed a bridge over another level of the underground yard where
smoke billowed up; past the smoke they found the bodies of a Keep guard and
one of the original attackers. The Keep guard still clutched his rifle. He had
been beheaded, presumably by the bloody sword hanging by its lanyard from the
hand of the other dead man, who lay against the railings of the underground
bridge, his tunic blown almost right off by the grenade explosion that had
killed him.
She stared at the man's naked right arm as they passed, slowing down for a
better look.
She shook her head and accelerated again. The black mouth of another tunnel
expanded to swallow the speeding monowheel. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]