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 Sheliaks don t lose their temper that way. They broke up instruments on
purpose. What was coming in before you decided to play Peeping Tom?
 Oh  The chimp thought.  More reports on Object Lambda. The density was
confirmed.
Very low. Like a sparse cloud of interstellar gas.
 We already knew it was Cloud-Cuckoo Land. That couldn t have had any effect
on them.
 Something did, Ben James, cried the chimp.  Look, We ve got to do something.
They ll be looking for me, and 
 Unless, said Pertin thoughtfully,  it wasn t the Sheliaks who did it. The
robot was up to something. And there are still a couple of purchased people
not accounted for. And 
Too late! howled the chimp.  Listen, Ben James! Somebody s coming!
But it wasn t the Sheliaks who came in on them, it was Aphrodite, the silver
pseudogirl, the heavy-planet creature in human form. Her fingers were
outstretched towards them, listening, as her great foil wings drove her
forward.
Behind her was the Scorpian robot.
They made an eerie pair, the striking orange-eyed girl with her coif of
metallic hair and steel-bright body hues, and the mechanical creature shaped
like a metal octopus. Its central body was a massive disc, the colour of the
pseudogirl s flesh, and its silvery tentacles made a fringe of snakes around
it. A greenish membrane that bulged above the upper surface of the disc
fluttered, producing a drum-roll of sound. Pertin s Pmal translator obediently
turned it into recognizable words:  DO NOT RESIST. WE WISH
YOU TO COME WITH US.
 Where? he demanded.
There was no answer, at least not in words. Pertin was caught in something
like a metal whip that stung a trail of fire around his waist. It was one of
the robot s tentacles that had caught him; it pinned his arms, and the
pseudogirl launched herself at him, her metal fist catching him full in the
face. Floating as he was, the blow was robbed of some of its force, but it
doubled him, flung him back against the robot s lash, dazed with pain and
sobbing for breath.
He heard a cry of anguish from Doc Chimp, but could not turn to see what was
happening. The vinegary smell of the dead T Worlie penetrated his nostrils,
mixing with the tang of his own blood.
 Why? he croaked, and tried to raise his arms to defend himself as the girl
dropped towards him again. She did not answer. She was on him like a great
silvery bat, metal feet kicking, shining fists flying. The lights went out. He
lost touch with space and time.
Pertin was not wholly unconscious, but he was so near to it, so filled with
pain and confusion, that he could hardly remember what happened next. He had a
fugitive impression of great shapes whirling around him, then of being carried
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away while someone behind him sobbed his name, the voice diminishing in the
distance.
A long time later he opened his eyes.
He was alone, in a part of the ship he knew only sketchily. A large open
cocoon hung from a wall, and inside it was what looked like one of the
purchased people. Pertin s face was swollen and his eyes not focusing well at
all; he squinted, but could not make out the features on the person in the
cocoon. It appeared to be male, however, and it appeared to be in the last
stages of dissolution.
It moved and looked towards him. A caricature of a smile disturbed the
weeks-old beard, and the dry tongue licked the lips. A cracked voice muttered
something, the tone hoarse and indistinguishable.
 Who are you? What do you want? demanded Ben James Pertin.
The figure rasped a sort of hacking cough, that perhaps was meant for a
chuckle. It tried again, and this time its words came clear enough - clear,
and familiar, in a way that Pertin had not expected.
 I want to talk to you, Ben, it croaked.  We have a lot in common, you know.
Pertin frowned, then his swollen eyes widened. He pushed himself towards the
swathed figure, caught himself at the lip of the cocoon and stared down. The
eyes that looked up at him were pain-filled but very familiar. He was looking
into his own, battered, obviously dying face.
Pertin remembered a time, months ago.
He had gone to the tachyon transmitter and light-heartedly enough given his
blueprint to the scanners and allowed one self of him to be beamed to the
Aurora
. It had not seemed like an important thing to do. At that tune, it was not
clear that the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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