[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
."The two of them, Anne Blenheim realized, were certainly in agreement on the need for humanity to unite and press on with the berserker-war to victory; she had known that all along.But she was not going to discuss politics with her prisoner, and that first halfway political statement that she could not disagree with would certainly lead them into talk of real politics if she agreed.Rather than do that she changed the subject."There's a lot of empty space here, isn't there? Imean a really enormous amount.Oh, I suppose I knew before I arrived that it would be so.But it never really struck me until now, getting my first good look at it from the inside."The general looked around and up, past the fiery point where the Radiant burned in vacuum, its inverse force pressing the atmosphere, their bodies, everything else, away from it.He said: "Oh, yes.Literally millions of chambers and passages back inside the shell.Room enough, of course, to run away and hide if I were so inclined.Hundreds of cubic kilometers of room.But ultimately, of course, nowhere to go."Again a sudden complaint about his status as a prisoner.Well, what more natural? It was just that somehow Commander Anne had expected more stoicism from this man, because of what she had heard about him; but she supposed she would complain too, in his place.But she was not going to commiserate with the general on his problems.Instead she gave her own viewpoint."A lot of volume to try to defend, with the number of people and the material I'm being given to work with.Not, Isuppose, that defense is actually going to become a practical question within the next year or two.""Let's hope not." In the past year or so increasing berserker activity in the region of the EightWorlds had made the possibility loom larger.He didn't elaborate on his answer.The whole Fortress was obviously still much more a museum than the real Fortress it once had been, that real fortress neither of them had ever seen.file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Fre.Saberhagen%20-%20The%20Berserk er%20Throne.txt (12 of 88) [11/1/2004 12:23:06 AM]file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Fred%20Saberhagen%20-%20The%20Berser ker%20Throne.txtThe smooth progress of their car now drew them in sight of a group of tourists, people from various planets taking a more formal tour of the Fortress in a larger, open-sided vehicle.Commander Blenheim wondered if they would stop at Sabel's old laboratory too.Tourism was no longer as much of a business here as it had been in Sabel's time; nor was the City's population nearly as large.Making conversation, Anne Blenheim mentioned this to the general.He agreed."The population in Sabel's time was over a hundred thousand, did you know that? I don't have any current official figures, but I can use my eyes.The total is obviously now down to something much less than that.A great many of the civilians are tourist-facility operators, or civilian base employees.There's a crew at the scientific station.And your Templars, of course, who make up a large part of the total.""There'll be more people here soon.Military and civilian both.""Oh?""We're relocating the Templar Academy here.The first class of approximately a hundred cadets is due to start arriving in less than a standard month.""That's news." The general seemed strongly interested.She supposed that any change, especially one that promised more people at the Page 17ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlRadiant, must be interesting to him.He asked her: "Where are you going to put them all? Lots of room, as you say, but not that much of it under atmosphere and in good repair.""We're looking for sections, preferably buildings near the base, that will be easy to repair and refurbish.And perhaps areas for training, out on the outer surface of the shell.I may request that you give me another tour some day-I gather you have been emulating Doctor Sabel, in your enthusiasm for exploration, at least.""I'm at your service when you want to go." He shook his head."It really is exploration.Reconstruction would be difficult out there.Out in the desert places-no demons to report as yet."He looked at her as if he wasn't sure she would get the allusion; well, she really hadn't, but at least she realized that it was one.Demons.She would look up the word.She said: "With the influx of cadets we may be in crowded quarters for a while, but it shouldn't be that hard to expand.As soon as the first group of trainees learn some basic elements of space survival, we'll make it part of the next phase of their training to refurbish some of the old facilities.Where did the good Doctor Sabel find his berserker, by the way?""He came upon it in one of the remoter corridors.A long way even from the areas where I usually poke around.A long, long way, even then, from the inhabited portions of the Fortress."After the Sabel debacle, she knew, the more remote corridors had been rather thoroughly searched for any more machines that might become active.Of course the damned machines could be good at concealment, at playing dead, as they were good at many other things; and to this day it was not completely certain that all the active units had been found.There might even, possibly, be more of them out there somewhere, frozen into the slag of ancient battle as the object of Sabel's efforts was supposed to have been when he discovered it.Then the commander wondered suddenly if that might be what the general was really after in his exploration-one more metallic dragon-monster.Not, of course, that Harivarman would be one to play the perverted games of goodlife.But, to find a foe still dangerous, to re-enact the combat glories of the days not long ago when Prince Harivarman had been a hero to everyone on the Eight Worlds-and incidentally to show up the Templars, for having been in control of this place so long and still having left one of the enemy functional and deadly dangerous-yes, she could see how that might be attractive to him
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
