Part 5 (1/2)

Larry told Pamela to stand guard again and he tried the visiphone. Hanovich's secretary told him that Hanovich was on his way with a squad of men.

Five minutes later the elevator doors again opened. This time it was Hanovich and a group of security men with drawn guns and gas masks. 'We've blocked all the elevator exits!' Hanovich announced gleefully when he saw Lt. McQueen. 'If they're in the Sanctuary, we've got them trapped there!'

'Any idea on how to get them out?' Larry asked.

Hanovich hesitated for a long time. 'Ah, well, ah ...' he said, trying to think of something. The visiphone buzzed, saving him further embarra.s.sment. Larry answered. It was Hanovich's secretary and she wanted him.

'Right after you left, the surveillance team captain called and reported that all of the suspects have gone to the Hospital,' she said. 'I'll switch you over to Inspector Burbee.'

'Where are they now?' Hanovich asked, as the Inspector's face appeared on the plate.

'They took an elevator down to the Sanctuary,' Inspector Burbee answered. 'A big spy-ray block has been put up down there and we can't see what they're doing.'

'When did they leave for the Hospital?'

'About 10 minutes ago. I tried to call you when I had determined where they were all headed but you'd just left.'

'Were there any new people in the group that went down into the Sanctuary?' Larry interrupted.

'Yes, one.'

'Who?'

'Mr. Johnstone, Director of Copernicus Control.'

Larry heard a little gasp from behind him and turned to find Pamela looking very pale and frightened.

'Oh, no,' she said, and then was crying on his shoulder. Behind him Larry heard the conversation continue.

'What kind of weapons do they have down there?'

'No idea. By the time we realized that they were headed toward The Sanctuary, they had their spy- ray block up. They didn't take much with them but there's no telling what they've already got down there.' There was a long pause while Inspector Burbee turned and was conferring with someone else.

Then he continued. 'You can't go down there now. They've released the foam that was to seal off the Sanctuary from the Dome after the evacuation. The elevator shafts are filling up with it.'

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Hanovich swore. 'I'll call the Mayor and find out who can remove it.'

A moment later he explained the situation to Mayor Love. Mayor Love said he would have someone call back in a few minutes.

Rog Philips called back. In typical political fas.h.i.+on, the Mayor had appointed him Acting Director of Facilities, and then dumped the problem on him.

Hanovich again explained the situation.

Rog thought a moment and then said, 'The V-2 gas is the first problem. The atmospheric contamination detectors closed off the ventilation system on your floor in time to limit the spread of the gas, but they've also closed every air-tight door in the area. Evacuate everyone from that floor. V-2 is soluble in water, so don't worry about the spread of the stuff out of the elevators. The air conditioning equipment on the other floors of the hospital will take care of the little bit you carry in the elevator cage. Just don't let anyone stand close to the cage door when it opens. The top floor there is the quarantine ward, so when you get everyone out, we'll blow the atmosphere out the vents to the surface. Then we'll go after the elevator shafts. When we melt the foam out of the shafts, the fumes can be released through the sixth floor, too.'

'How can we evacuate if the shafts are blocked with foam?'

'I doubt if there's any foam up here,' Rog answered. 'In the first place it shouldn't come up this high, and in the second place, at least one elevator should be on one of the lower floors of the hospital.'

'How long before a shaft is clear down to the Sanctuary?'

'At least a day. It depends on whether the solvent and equipment to remove the foam is available or whether we have to bring it in from Tellus.'

'We've got to get down to the Sanctuary as soon as possible. This job has top priority!' Hanovich said.

'Yeh,' Rog said, obviously unimpressed, and cleared his plate.

Hanovich was clearly taken aback by the curt dismissal. It was with a visible effort that he turned to Larry and touched him on the shoulder. 'You better take her home. Nothing's going to happen here for a while.'

'I'll drop into your office later,' Larry said. 'You might try to trace these.' Larry handed him the guns he and Pamela had used and the magnetic identification card he had found on the head gunman.

Then they left.

CHAPTER SIX.

A 'CLUB' WORTH JOINING.

Rog was as pleased as a hungry cat with a piece of chicken. The people in the Facilities Division had responded to him as though they had been let out of a dark prison cell. With any kind of luck, even that pompous a.s.s Hanovich might be impressed with their efforts, although that would be expecting a lot.

Equipment which could remove the foam had been found and transported to the hospital. At the hospital everyone from workmen to engineers helped install it. Rog just stood back out of the way and watched as the walls and floor of an elevator cage were stripped bare.

A refrigerated cooling panel, pulled out of the degreaser in the weld shop was installed. It came complete with drip trays, pumps, hoses and long nozzles for spraying surfaces. When everything was installed, five men in vacuum suits got into the elevator and closed the doors.

A hole was cut in the door, a pipe welded in place and drums of solvent pumped through the pipe into the shaft. Inside the shaft a vacuum-suited handler connected a long coil of hose to the pipe. Other men sprayed solvent from the hose on the foamed plastic below.

The reaction between the plastic and the solvent produced a gas and heat. Uncombined solvent evaporated, condensed on the cooling panel and dripped into pans which led to a pump. The repressurized solvent was sprayed on the walls and used to make certain the elevator tracks were clear. The elevator dropped slowly, paying out hose behind it as the shaft was cleared.

Up on the sixth floor of the hospital, the elevator doors were open and the excess ga.s.ses were drawn out to the surface of the moon.

The five men in the elevator were volunteers. Volunteers to do a dirty, dangerous, unrewarding job. A mistake, a mis-step, and death or serious injury waited for them. Down they went. Spraying away the foam. Tacking the hose to the elevator shaft wall.

They dropped slowly toward, but never reached, the hot, blackened, sticky ma.s.s beneath them. Just workmen? No! Heroes! They were risking their lives for the safety of those above. And if later someone else got the glory ... they would probably smile knowingly at each other and shrug. They were doing a job that someone had to do. Heroes don't always get their names in newspapers or 2324

books and few are ever even recognized.

By the time the local supply of solvent had run out, more had been brought in from Tellus.

It was the next morning when Larry arrived, back in the Patrol's silver and black uniform, at Hanovich's office. After greetings were exchanged, Larry asked, 'Did you trace the guns?'

'Yes,' Hanovich answered. 'They belong to a collector. They weren't missed because he was in the hospital when they were stolen.'