Part 91 (1/2)
Kramer took a deep breath. He came away from the door and stood in front of Alexis Manion. With a complex signal he keyed the docilator shutoff, then supported the surfacing mind until it was in full control of its faculties.
The bridge door opened by itself. Walter said, ”Thanks, Jordy.”
”Set it up,” said Kramer, and hurried away.
Manion ma.s.saged his temples and blinked. He did not attempt to remove the headpiece and his eyes were as mild and unfocused as ever. ”When it's safe,” he said to Walter, ”find out from Jordy when Marc plans his next excursion. I'll see that the others are ready.”
Because the exhaust of the electroliser unit was outside the fivemetre diameter of the little sigma-s.h.i.+eld, Tony Wayland and his fellow captives, Kalipin the Howler and Alice Greatorex, a middle-aged chemical engineer, could pa.s.s the time turning dysprosium chloride into the pure element. Outside the forcefield, the mob of Yotunag ogres gnashed their b.l.o.o.d.y tusks impotently and howled inaudible epithets.
”Eventually they'll get tired and go away,” Kalipin predicted.
But he'd been saying that for nearly three hours now.
”When we miss the eighteen-hundred-hour sked, the King will send help,” said Alice.
Tony gave a hollow laugh. ”If the battery on this puny sigma doesn't go flat first! And with my luck-”
The timer on the electroliser pinged. Tony opened its small hatch and removed a pencil-sized cylinder of metal with a pair of forceps. Alice held out an open bottle. He slid the ingot inside, tossed a deox packet after it, and snapped on the lid.
Alice numbered the bottle and set it with the other four.
”You guys realize this is our two-hundred-fifty-eighth slug of Dy? Only fifty-five more of these little suckers and we can pack up and leave beautiful Fennoscandia and its quaint native peoples.”
Outside, the devastated mining camp was dimly visible, as through a one-way mirror. A fresh group of deformed monsters came loping up from the direction of the diggings and joined their mates in whacking at the slippery surface of the force-field with granite hammer-axes.
”Persistent,” Tony commented. ”You think they could have finally done for Amathon and the other Tanu trapped in the tunnel?”
Kalipin screwed his illusory face into an expression of resignation. ”My savage kinfolk usually stick to a job until they finish it.” He emptied the dross from the electroliser and began charging it for the next batch. A faint tang of chlorine wafted about their imprisoning hemisphere before slowly diffusing out through the semipermeable field. ”The feathers do resemble those on the crest of Lord Amathon's helmet. Coercer blue.
And since he was the stoutest mind among those cornered in the shaft, I fear for the worst. You might also note the fresh stains on the hammers of the newly arrived Yotunag.”
”I'd rather not, actually,” Tony said. He turned on the little electric furnace and sat back in his chair. Outside, flames licked up in one corner of the ruined lab shed. After a few minutes the display on the electroliser went dead. ”s.h.i.+t! There goes the power line.”
”Now you can be glad the sigma's on battery,” Alice said comfortably.
Kalipin watched the spreading fire with apprehension. ”Will we remain safe inside this shelter?”
Alice said, ”Safe as in your mommie's lap, little friend. When the lab floor burns through we'll settle down a bit, that's all.”
The blaze was becoming quite brisk. Some of the Yotunag hurled burning brands at the frustrating sigma bubble, to no effect.
”d.a.m.n them,” Tony muttered. ”They can't see us. Why the devil do they keep up the siege? For all they know, we've skipped out from under.”
”They fa.r.s.ense our presence,” Kalipin sighed. ”The forcefield is, as you noted, a rather puny one.”
Alice fingered her golden torc with fatalistic good humour.
”But quite strong enough to keep us from farshouting out.” She checked the small sigma generator that sat in the middle of the cluttered lab bench. ”You guys interested in knowing how much b.u.mbershoot juice we have left?”
”No,” growled Tony.