[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"What's in this next pond, Glenna?" Claus asked, and knew a measure of relief
when the gray-haired woman gave a little shake of her head and answered
sensibly.
"Grouper. Some other fish as food stock for them. Why?"
"Just wondering. What'll we run into if we keep on going in this direction?"
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/F...serker%20%20-%20The%20Ultimate%2
0Enemy.html (129 of 171) [10/31/2004 11:38:30 PM]
Saberhagen, Fred - The Ultimate Enemy
"This just goes on. Kilometer after kilometer. Ponds, and bays, and
observation stations I say keep going because otherwise they'll catch us.
What do you think we ought to do?"
Claus abruptly stopped walking, startling the women. He let the dead man slide
down gently from his shoulders. Jen looked at her husband, examined Ino, shook
her head.
Claus said: "I think we've got to leave him."
Glenna looked down at Ino's body once, could not keep looking at him. She
nodded fiercely, and once more led the way.
A time of silent walking passed before Jenny at Claus's side began:
"If they're berserkers& "
"What else?"
"Well, why aren't we all dead already? They don't seem very&
efficiently designed for killing."
"They must be specialists," Claus mused. "Only a small part of a large force,
a part Brass Trumpet missed when the rest moved on or was destroyed. Remember,
we were wondering if Atlantis was their real target? These are special
machines, built for& underwater work, maybe. Their ship must have been wrecked
in the fighting and had to come down. When they found themselves on this
planet they must have come down to the sea for a reconnaissance, and then
decided to attack first by land. Probably they saw the lights of the base
before they crash-landed. They know which life-form they have to deal with
first, on any planet. Not very efficient, as you say. But they'll keep coming
at us till they're all smashed or we're all dead."
Glenna had slowed her pace a little and was looking toward the small
observation post rising in the midst of the pond that they were passing. "I
don't think there's anything in any of these stations that can help us. But I
can't think of anywhere else to turn."
Claus asked: "What's in the next pond after this?"
"Sharks& ah. That might be worth a try. Sometimes they'll snap at anything
that moves.
They're small ones, so I think our risk will be relatively small if we wade
out to the middle."
Claus thought to himself that he would rather end in the belly of a
Page 84
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/F...serker%20%20-%20The%20Ultimate%2
0Enemy.html (130 of 171) [10/31/2004 11:38:30 PM]
Saberhagen, Fred - The Ultimate Enemy live shark than be torn to pieces by an
impersonal device. Jen was willing also to take the chance.
They did not pause again till they were on the brink of-the shark pond. Then
Glenna said: "The water will be no more than three or four feet deep the way
we're going. Stay together and keep splashing as we go. Claus, hold that bad
hand up; mustn't drip a taste of blood into the water."
And in they went. Only when they were already splashing waist-deep did Claus
recall Ino's blood wetting the back of his coverall. But he was not going to
stop just now to take it off.
The pond was not very large; a minute of industrious wading, and they were
climbing unmolested over the low, solid railing of the observation post rising
near its middle. Here was space for two people to sit comfortably, sheltered
from weather by a transparent dome and movable side panels. In the central
console were instruments that continually monitored the life in the
surrounding pond. Usually, of course, the readings from all ponds would be
monitored in the more convenient central station attached to the house.
The three of them squeezed in, and Glenna promptly opened a small storage
locker. It contained a writing instrument that looked broken, a cap perhaps
left behind by some construction worker, and a small spider another
immigrant from Earth, of course who might have been blown out here by the
wind. That was all.
She slammed the locker shut again. "No help. So now it's a matter of waiting.
They'll obviously come after us through the water. The sharks may snap up some
of them before they reach us. Then we must be ready to move on before we are
surrounded. It's doubtful, and risky, but I can't think of anything else to
try."
Claus frowned. "Eventually we'll have to circle around, get back to the
buildings."
Jen frowned at him. "The berserkers are there, too."
"I don't think they will be, now. You see "
Glenna broke in: "Here they come."
The sun had climbed, and was starting to get noticeably hot. It came to
Claus's mind, not for the first time since their flight had started,
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/F...serker%20%20-%20The%20Ultimate%2
0Enemy.html (131 of 171) [10/31/2004 11:38:30 PM]
Saberhagen, Fred - The Ultimate Enemy that there was no water for them to
drink. He held his left arm up with his right, trying to ease the throbbing.
Along the reef where they had walked, along the parallel shore and coming now
over the barrier from the grouper pond plate-sized specks of brown death
were flowing. There were several dozen of them, moving more slowly than
hurried humans could move, almost invisible in the shimmer of sun and sea.
Some plopped into the water of the shark pond as Claus watched.
"I can't pick them up underwater," Glenna announced. She was twiddling the
controls of the station's instruments, trying to catch the enemy on one of the
screens meant for observing marine life.
"Sonar& motion detectors& water's too murky for simple video."
Understanding dawned for Claus. "That's why they're not metal!
Why they're comparatively fragile. They're designed for avoiding detection by
underwater defenses, on Atlantis I suppose, for infiltrating and disabling
them."
Jen was standing. "We'd better get moving before we're cut off."
"In another minute." Glenna was still switching from one video pickup to
another around the pond. "I'm sure we have at least that much to spare& ah."
One of the enemy had appeared on screen, sculling toward the camera at a
Page 85
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
modest pace. It looked less lifelike than it had in earlier moments of
arm's-length combat.
Now, entering the picture from the rear, a shark.
Claus was not especially good on distinguishing marine species. But this
portentous and somehow familiar shape was identifiable at once, not to be
confused even by the non-expert, it seemed, with that of any other kind of
fish.
Claus started to say, He's going right past. But the shark was not.
Giving the impression of afterthought, the torpedo-shape swerved back. Its
mouth opened and the berserker device was gone.
The people watching made wordless sounds. But Jen took the others by an arm
apiece. "We can't bet all of them will be eaten let's get moving."
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]