Starquake.pdf

The screen on the communications console flashed on to show the image of Sky-Speaker. Above the
electronic chitter
of data being transferred there came a calling signal. Seiko went to the console, and the image of
Sky-Speaker started talking as she approached.
"You read fast," the image said.
"You listen slow. Read."
The image was replaced by text that scrolled rapidly up the screen, keeping in pace with the scan of her
eyes. Seiko didn't know how the cheela had done it, but they had taken over control of the
communications console display program.
"Pierre," said Seiko, still reading. "They are going to try to rescue us."
"Did they find a way to move Oscar?" he asked, floating over next to her.
"No," she said. "They found a way to move us." Pierre read the screen along with her, then said to the
rest of the crew, "Everybody get into the high-G protection tanks," he said. "The cheela are going to take
us for a ride."
04:02:35 GMT WEDNESDAY 22 JUNE2050
Neutrino-Maker/84 watched as his swarm of robotic workers approached the gigantic viewport
window at the south pole of the human spacecraft. They stopped a few meters away from the hull and set
up three neutrino generators that flooded the interior of the spacecraft with beams of neutrinos at carefully
selected frequencies. He then took his crew around to the other side where they set up a dense array of
neutrino detectors. Each robot had the ancient cleft-wort symbol of Web Construction Company
emblazoned on its back.
"One more imposs-proj for Web-Con," said the engineer proudly. Once the detectors were in place, a
computer generated holo-image slowly began to build up in the display.
"Air, water, humans, steel, all like vacuum," said Neutrino-Maker/84 as he waited impatiently for the
image to build up. If they had done a neutrino scan on a decent density object, the image would have
formed almost instantly.
After a half-turn, the image was good enough for him to see that the humans were all in their tanks and
the last of the air was being replaced by water.
Neutrino-Maker/84 switched his console to communicate with Void-Maker/111. An old and
experienced Web-Con disinto engineer, she had been assigned the delicate job of re-
moving the laser communicator from the human spaceship while leaving it in operating condition. The
communicator was going to be delivered to another group of Web-Con engineers to calibrate some