[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

class Status.
"Then we'll do it this way," the big man continued. "First, you will try to find out the
identity of the guard. If Obie can keep track of people, he should know who it was. Then one of
us becomes the guard-minus the sponge addiction, make sure of that!-and one becomes Nikki Zinder
and the third becomes Mavra Chang. All preprogrammed in noninterruptable sequence, of course." He
shrugged disarmingly. "It's not that I don't trust you, you understand. It's just that you get
on top by doing the unthinkable and you stay on top by thinking the unthinkable."
Yulin sighed, surrendering. The better part of valor and all that, he decided.
"Who do you want to be?" he asked.
"We have to think this through, and time's pressing," Trelig replied. "The old man, there-
well, we'll need some sort of mind-bind, of course. Make him his own flesh and blood. Behavior
patterns will also have to be programmed in," he reminded the younger scientist. "We don't want
any slip-ups. We will not just have to look like these people, but walk like them, talk like
them, almost think like them, while remaining ourselves inside. The odds are the guard's one of
the supervisors, and they're all sexual foul-ups. I'm hermaphroditic, so that shouldn't pose a
problem. That makes you Mavra Chang."
"I'd rather not be a woman," Yulin protested weakly.
"You won't mind when you've been through the disk," Trelig retorted. "Now, let's get the
instructions letter-perfect, so everything's right and we get nothing funny added or subtracted
by the machine. And- when you're doing it, Ben, you will show me how."
Yulin started to protest, then decided there was no point to it. He turned on the console.
"Obie? Do you have the identity of the guard who escaped with Mavra Chang?" he asked.
"It was Renard," replied the computer. "I have no reading for him and he did not leave Topside
for here. A few died Topside, though, so a slight chance exists that it was not."
"It has to be," Trelig decided. "He was one of the girl's guards. Everything fits. I'll take a
chance on it."
Ben Yulin nodded. "I don't think it'd be a good idea .if the Doc, here, knows the access," he
pointed out.
Trelig agreed, turned, and shot a short stun beam at the helpless Zinder, who collapsed in a
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...0-%20Exiles%20at%20the%20Well%20of%20Souls.TXT (62 of 183) [7/1/03 1:17:05 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20W...f%20Souls%2002%20-%20Exiles%20at%20the%20Well%20of%20Souls.TXT
heap. "Five minutes," Trelig warned his associate. "No more."
Ben Yulin nodded, then turned back to the console. He didn't like doing what he was about to
do, and in front of the one man who could later use it against him, but a double cross at this
point had too many risks to be worth it.
"Obie?" he called.
"Yes, Ben?" the computer responded.
He punched some buttons on his keyboard, acutely aware of Antor Trelig's steady gaze at the
combinations.
"Unnumbered transaction," he told the machine. "File in aux storage under my key only."
"What?" The computer seemed slightly startled, then, as access to the sealed-off sections
became open to him, Obie realized what was going on.
"How many times have you used this, Ben?" Obie asked, marveling as always at the discovery of
a part of himself he'd not known was there.
"Not often," Yulin responded casually. "Now, Obie, I want you to listen carefully. You will
carry out my instructions to the letter, neither adding nor subtracting anything on your own. Is
that clear?"
"Yes, Ben," Obie replied resignedly.
Yulin paused a moment to choose his words, conscious of the dangers in giving Obie an opening,
and also of Trelig's ready pistol. There were tiny beads of sweat on his forehead.
"Three transactions, in sequence, which must be completed before any additional instructions
may be given you," he said cautiously. "One, Dr. Gilgam Zinder, outward form to be that of the
last coding of Nikki Zinder minus the sponge presence. Memory will remain Gil Zinder's, with all
attendant knowledge and skills, but subject will be unable to transmit this fact or information
except on instruction from Antor Trelig or myself. Otherwise, subject will possess all behavior
patterns of the frame of reference, including walk, emotive reactions, and speech, and all other
characteristics to render subject indistinguishable from the frame of reference. Subject will
further be unable to convey by any means the true identities of Antor Trelig or myself. Clear?"
"I understand, Ben," Obie replied.
Yulin nodded, certain he had completed that step correctly. "Two. Subject Antor Trelig.
Subject is to be physically fitted to the last coding of the guard Renard, minus the sponge
addiction. Subject will be provided with all behavior modes of the frame of reference, including
walk, emotive reactions, speech, and all other characteristics to render subject
indistinguishable from the frame of reference. However, memory will remain Antor Trelig's, with
all attendant knowledge and skills, able to call upon his true self at any point." Yulin
suddenly looked around at Trelig and asked, "All right so far?" Trelig nodded cautiously.
"Three," Yulin continued. "Subject Abu Ben Yulin. Subject is to be fitted physically to the
last coding of Mavra Chang. Subject will be provided with all behavior modes of the frame of
reference, including walk, emotive reactions, speech, and all other characteristics to render
subject indistinguishable from the frame of reference. However, memory will remain Abu Ben
Yulin's, with all attendant knowledge and skills, able to call upon his true self at any point.
Clear?"
"Yes, Ben," Obie responded. "Clear and locked in."
Yulin, still nervous about undergoing the process himself, added, "And, Obie, for all three
transactions, subjects are to be acclimated so that they feel physiologically and psychologically
comfortable with the new bodies and external behavior patterns. Understand?"
"Yes, Ben. I understand you don't like to be a woman," Obie responded acidly. Yulin
scowled but let the remark go. He turned to Trelig. "Okay, take the doc down," he said.
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...0-%20Exiles%20at%20the%20Well%20of%20Souls.TXT (63 of 183) [7/1/03 1:17:05 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20W...f%20Souls%2002%20-%20Exiles%20at%20the%20Well%20of%20Souls.TXT
"First, tell the machine that the transactions are locked in," Trelig responded softly. Yulin
grinned sheepishly and shrugged. There was no doubt whatsoever as to how Antor Trelig had
attained and kept his position of power.
"Lock on all transactions now," he told Obie. "Locked and running," Obie responded. "Go ahead
with the run."
Satisfied now that Yulin could do nothing to override the instructions, Trelig gestured with
the pistol and took Gil Zinder downstairs.
The transformation didn't take long. Yulin watched as first Gil Zinder dissolved in blue
sparkles and reformed as an absolute duplicate of Nikki Zinder. The older scientist could do
nothing, and so stood and watched as Trelig nervously mounted the disk, and threw his pistol
hesitantly to Ben Yulin. Yulin thought, as Trelig dissolved and a few seconds later started
reforming as the guard, how easy it would be to shoot Trelig. Zinder seemed to catch the younger
man's thoughts, and said, in Nikki's adolescent tones, "No, Ben! You can't! He's the only one who
knows how to get us off the planet!"
Yulin sighed, realizing the truth of that statement and accepting it grudgingly. He had to
assume that the robot sentinels had also been transported, or else the nonspongies Topside would
have taken off in the ship by now. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

zanotowane.pl

doc.pisz.pl

pdf.pisz.pl

razem.keep.pl