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.Tie off a rope, hook up any number of devices and loweryourself on the rope.However, there are any number of cases where this isimpractical; ropes are not infinitely lengthy.There was another deviceavailable that used a very thin wire for the same purpose.And Mosovich reallywished he had one with him.But they were much harder to construct than thestatic repulsion boxes and weren't standard issue.Given the number of timesthis sort of thing came up, he was definitely getting one for everyone in theteam and keeping them.The problem was that static repulsion systems didn't slow your fall at alluntil they came near solid materials.For example, this system was going tocompletely ignore the trees he was just about to hit.* * *"Fuscirto uut!" Orostan shouted, jumping over the corpse of the last oolt'osand darting to the edge.His talons scrabbled on the rock as he almost slid over the side then helooked down the cliff face just in time to see the human disappear into thetrees below."You cannot escape me that easily!" the oolt'ondai shouted to the winds,knowing that the words were a lie."I will still eat your heart!"Orostan looked out over the valley below and screamed in rage.The sun wasPage 106 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlsinking to the northwest and before anyone could get to the landing area thehuman, if it was alive, and he doubted that it had just committed suicide,would be kilometers away.In any of three directions.Cholosta'an came up beside him and looked down.After a moment he pointeddownwards with a flap of his crest."Yes," Orostan ground out."Alive?" the younger Kessentai asked."Probably," Orostan snarled."And there was only one."Cholosta'an thought about that for a moment."The last time we had a goodcount it was over by the town of Seed.There were four.""Yes," Orostan said."Four.""And now there was only one," Cholosta'an said."One.And no bodies.""No.""Oh.Fuscirto uut.""I'll send someone around to look for a corpse," Orostan said after a fewmoments' contemplation."But I doubt they'll find anything." He looked at his tenaral and started towonder who.Finally he turned away and started back down the hill.The humanmight have escaped today, but it undoubtedly was"based" beyond the Gap.Its time would come.Soon.* * *As the last Posleen normal faded out of sight, the "rock" that Mosovich hadbeen standing on shifted and rippled, revealing something that looked verymuch like a four-eyed, blotchy, purple frog.The creature, if it was stretched out, would have been about eight feet fromfour-fingered foot-hand to foot-hand and was perfectly symetrical; it had twohands and two eyes on either end with a complex something in the area where anose might be.The Himmit scout leaned out from the rock, its rear two foot-hands spreadingout over the surface for purchase, and noted the faint heat signature movingaway that was probably the human.He then levered himself back and lookedtowards the retreating Posleen.Such decisions.Human/Posleen, Human/Posleen?Finally, deciding that humans were always more interesting than Posleen whobasically ate, killed and reproduced and who could make a story from that? itleaned sideways and started flowing from handhold to handhold down the cliff.Such exciting times.CHAPTER 14Rochester, NY, United States, Sol III0928 EDT Tuesday September 15, 2009 adMike looked around the room and then undogged his helmet.The command andstaff of the 1 /555st th was grouped in a kindergarten schoolroom, sitting on the floor to usethe undersized tables.The battlescarred combat suits made an unpleasantcontrast to the colored drawings on the walls and the prominent poster of thefive food groups."Well, we've had worse meetings." He chuckled as the last of the gelunderlayer from his suit streamed off into his helmet."Much worse.""Yep," Duncan agreed as he set his helmet carefully on the desk in front ofhim.The plasteel was still heavy and hard enough to mar the stick drawing ofa little girl with "Ashley" written below it."At least nobody is shooting atus.""We'll get back to that pretty soon," Mike said.He worked the ball of tobaccofrom one side of his mouth to the other and spit into his helmet.The nannitesof the semibiotic underlayer gathered up the disgusting glop which, from itsperspective, was simply moisture, nutrients and complex carbon molecules, andcarried them off to be reprocessed."There's groups of Posleen holed up allPage 107 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlalong the bottom of the Plain.We're going to help with the mop-up for thenext week or so as reaction forces.After that, Horner has ordered us to move to our barracks and take some timeoff.Given that we had to reconsolidate without Alpha company, I think sometime in barracks is called for.""We've got barracks?" Stewart asked with a chuckle."I mean, like, realbarracks that are ours and everything? Or are we going to a 'rest andrecreation' barracks?" he asked with a grimace.The facilities were run byGround Forces and varied wildly."They're ours," O'Neal said with a grin."They've been on my books the wholedamned time.They're in the mountains in Pennsylvania.A place called Newry, just south ofAltoona.We've even got a rear detachment.""We do?" Duncan asked, bemusedly."I would have thought the S-3 would knowabout that sort of thing.""It's not all that big," Mike said."And they're all seconded from GroundForces.But there's a supply officer and a personnel section.""And barracks?" Captain Slight said with a light chuckle."With beds andstuff?""The same," O'Neal said with another grin."I'm not sure I'll be able to sleepin one; the last time Itried I was up all night tossing and turning.""I think the troops will adjust," Gunny Pappas said, shaking his head now thathe'd doffed his helmet."They seriously need some down time.And there's gearthat needs work, even the GalTech gear.""We'll do all of that," Mike said."My basic plan is this.We should arrive,transportation being available, on Monday or Tuesday.We'll spend a daycleaning up the barracks and our gear and morguing the suits.Then a day ortwo on short days around the barracks, getting used to wearing silks again andworking on our dress stuff.Friday we'll have a real honest to God 'paydayactivities' with an inspection of the barracks and dress uniform inspectionfollowed by a battalion formation and dismissal by noon.Everybody to be backin formation no earlier than noon the next Tuesday
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