[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Even if the end should come in a triumphant recall to power.That, too, was now suddenly a possibility, he supposed, though not a likely one.He would miss this work, and at the present moment he didn't even know whether he was going to be able to come back to it tomorrow.Harivarman had already packed much of his equipment back into the flyer, when a nagging sense of untidy incompletion grew great enough to be uncomfortable.This particular short section of corridor held a pair of doors that he had been looking forward to opening.According to his experience of exploration in this area, doors placed like these should have behind them a couple of rooms, or perhaps one large room.Whatever was behind them had not yet been investigated.Those doors, he thought, were likely to open into one or two of the rare chambers that had never been entered since the Dardanians' time.There was no need for the Prince to unpack the shelter once more, or to get much in the way of equipment out of the flyer again.One quick glance inside the room, or rooms, would be enough for now.If what he saw inside appeared sufficiently intriguing, he would have something to look forward to when-if-he got back here.Extracting what he considered to be an appropriate tool from his packed kit, Harivarman launched himself in vanishingly small gravity and drifted in a long, free, practiced dive that brought him file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Fre.Saberhagen%20-%20The%20Berserk er%20Throne.txt (21 of 88) [11/1/2004 12:23:06 AM]file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Fred%20Saberhagen%20-%20The%20Berser ker%20Throne.txt in a gently curving path almost exactly in front of the door Page 29ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlhe wanted.That door was of molded metal fancifully decorated.He could see nothing on it that looked like a lock.But he had tried this door gently before, on his first look around at this end of the corridor, and he was certain that it was blocked or stuck somehow.Probably, he thought, it had just become sealed with the metal-binding grip of centuries.His tool, a combination vibrator and power hammer, soon took care of that impediment.Now the door could be slid back.The room exposed was, naturally, completely dark inside.Harivarman shone his helmet light around, through emptiness.It was, for this part of the Fortress, a surprisingly large, deep chamber.There was another door that must connect with the as-yet unopened room adjoining.Once there had undoubtedly been functional artificial gravity…Then for some seconds Prince Harivarman did not breathe.He had thought at first that the large room was empty.But it was not.Against the rear wall, looking somehow crouched and defensive and small amid the room's emptiness, as if some enemy might have cornered it there, was a machine.The metal of it looked like armor, gleaming dully in his light.It was not really small at all, but almost as large as his flyer though of a different shape.In this undisturbed place the minimal gravity had had time, plenty of time, to press the machine firmly though very lightly on the floor, so that now it was as motionless as the rock slabs of the walls.And the machine was no longer functional; Prince Harivarman in the first second of looking at it felt very sure of that.He would doubtless be dead already if it were.Not an android.On second look, it did not really approach his flyer in size, but it was considerably bigger than a man, and shaped more like an insect, or a vehicle.Nor did it represent any of their most common types of comparatively simple combat units.No, this was something larger and more complex.The shape of the outer surface-perhaps it should be called a hull-suggested spaceflight capability; and there, near the bottom of the thing, within the pale of the six great folded and motionless spider-legs, was a bulge that resembled a corresponding curve on the lifeboat of an interstellar liner.That form surely indicated the presence of some kind of miniature interstellar drive.Details were still doubtful, but one fact was certain.There was no doubt in Prince Harivarman's mind that he had found a relict berserker, and one whose existence was undreamt of by the Templars or any other human being.Chapter 5By the time Chen had recovered from his faint, the base commander had departed.A different set of uniformed Templars now had Chen in charge, and they were half leading, half carrying him along a passage.As soon as Chen had his wits about him again, he started protesting loudly."Look, it's crazy to think that I would have killed the Empress! Why would I have done that? Iwanted to persuade her to recall the Prince! I didn't even know she'd been killed until I got here."No one argued with him, on that point or any other.No one agreed with him about anything either.Rather it was as if they just weren't listening.All they wanted to do right now was put him away safely.They turned aside presently into a small room, where they deposited him on a plain couch.He lay there, under the watchful eyes of his silent captors, until a couple of additional people arrived.These turned out to be a medical team, and they rushed Chen through an examination.This checkup took no more than five minutes, and evidently it revealed no conditions that required special handling, for presently its subject was on his way again, still under heavy escort and being treated no more or less gently than before.Chen was more than half expecting to be thrown directly into some kind of military prison-did Templars still call their lockup the "stockade," as they did in the adventure stories? But the room he was actually locked into was more Page 30ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlcomfortable-looking than he had expected, and it did not appear to be within any kind of prison complex.Instead, the surroundings suggested the corridor of some comfortable hotel [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Even if the end should come in a triumphant recall to power.That, too, was now suddenly a possibility, he supposed, though not a likely one.He would miss this work, and at the present moment he didn't even know whether he was going to be able to come back to it tomorrow.Harivarman had already packed much of his equipment back into the flyer, when a nagging sense of untidy incompletion grew great enough to be uncomfortable.This particular short section of corridor held a pair of doors that he had been looking forward to opening.According to his experience of exploration in this area, doors placed like these should have behind them a couple of rooms, or perhaps one large room.Whatever was behind them had not yet been investigated.Those doors, he thought, were likely to open into one or two of the rare chambers that had never been entered since the Dardanians' time.There was no need for the Prince to unpack the shelter once more, or to get much in the way of equipment out of the flyer again.One quick glance inside the room, or rooms, would be enough for now.If what he saw inside appeared sufficiently intriguing, he would have something to look forward to when-if-he got back here.Extracting what he considered to be an appropriate tool from his packed kit, Harivarman launched himself in vanishingly small gravity and drifted in a long, free, practiced dive that brought him file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Fre.Saberhagen%20-%20The%20Berserk er%20Throne.txt (21 of 88) [11/1/2004 12:23:06 AM]file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Fred%20Saberhagen%20-%20The%20Berser ker%20Throne.txt in a gently curving path almost exactly in front of the door Page 29ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlhe wanted.That door was of molded metal fancifully decorated.He could see nothing on it that looked like a lock.But he had tried this door gently before, on his first look around at this end of the corridor, and he was certain that it was blocked or stuck somehow.Probably, he thought, it had just become sealed with the metal-binding grip of centuries.His tool, a combination vibrator and power hammer, soon took care of that impediment.Now the door could be slid back.The room exposed was, naturally, completely dark inside.Harivarman shone his helmet light around, through emptiness.It was, for this part of the Fortress, a surprisingly large, deep chamber.There was another door that must connect with the as-yet unopened room adjoining.Once there had undoubtedly been functional artificial gravity…Then for some seconds Prince Harivarman did not breathe.He had thought at first that the large room was empty.But it was not.Against the rear wall, looking somehow crouched and defensive and small amid the room's emptiness, as if some enemy might have cornered it there, was a machine.The metal of it looked like armor, gleaming dully in his light.It was not really small at all, but almost as large as his flyer though of a different shape.In this undisturbed place the minimal gravity had had time, plenty of time, to press the machine firmly though very lightly on the floor, so that now it was as motionless as the rock slabs of the walls.And the machine was no longer functional; Prince Harivarman in the first second of looking at it felt very sure of that.He would doubtless be dead already if it were.Not an android.On second look, it did not really approach his flyer in size, but it was considerably bigger than a man, and shaped more like an insect, or a vehicle.Nor did it represent any of their most common types of comparatively simple combat units.No, this was something larger and more complex.The shape of the outer surface-perhaps it should be called a hull-suggested spaceflight capability; and there, near the bottom of the thing, within the pale of the six great folded and motionless spider-legs, was a bulge that resembled a corresponding curve on the lifeboat of an interstellar liner.That form surely indicated the presence of some kind of miniature interstellar drive.Details were still doubtful, but one fact was certain.There was no doubt in Prince Harivarman's mind that he had found a relict berserker, and one whose existence was undreamt of by the Templars or any other human being.Chapter 5By the time Chen had recovered from his faint, the base commander had departed.A different set of uniformed Templars now had Chen in charge, and they were half leading, half carrying him along a passage.As soon as Chen had his wits about him again, he started protesting loudly."Look, it's crazy to think that I would have killed the Empress! Why would I have done that? Iwanted to persuade her to recall the Prince! I didn't even know she'd been killed until I got here."No one argued with him, on that point or any other.No one agreed with him about anything either.Rather it was as if they just weren't listening.All they wanted to do right now was put him away safely.They turned aside presently into a small room, where they deposited him on a plain couch.He lay there, under the watchful eyes of his silent captors, until a couple of additional people arrived.These turned out to be a medical team, and they rushed Chen through an examination.This checkup took no more than five minutes, and evidently it revealed no conditions that required special handling, for presently its subject was on his way again, still under heavy escort and being treated no more or less gently than before.Chen was more than half expecting to be thrown directly into some kind of military prison-did Templars still call their lockup the "stockade," as they did in the adventure stories? But the room he was actually locked into was more Page 30ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlcomfortable-looking than he had expected, and it did not appear to be within any kind of prison complex.Instead, the surroundings suggested the corridor of some comfortable hotel [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]