You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
"Coupling experiments successful," reported Electromagnetic-Manager/1.<br />
"Excellent!" said the administrator.<br />
"Excellent!!" the administrator said again, unnecessarily repeating himself.<br />
"Excellent!!!" said the administrator once again.<br />
Electromagnetic-Manager/1 began to be concerned. The eye-stub wave pattern on Lovely-Eyes<br />
accelerated, and his hide changed color as his emotions reached the breaking point. His tread started to<br />
move again.<br />
"Pro . .." Suddenly four eye-balls fell sightless to the deck. Electromagnetic-Manager/1 immediately<br />
realized that the ancient one had suffered a stroke affecting one of the tri-lobes of his brain-knot.<br />
"Lovely-Eyes!" Electromagnetic-Manager/1 rushed over to assist the Ancient One. His tread'trummed<br />
an emergency call into the deck as he moved.<br />
Eight, intense, dark red eyes stared him to a halt. They were not "lovely eyes," they were fanatical eyes.<br />
"Pro ... Pro ... ceed with project." The treading was weak, but distinct.<br />
"Lovely-Eyes," said Electromagnetic-Manager/1. "I stay until medicos come."<br />
"Go!" came the reply. "And call me Lovely-Eyes no longer. Call me Human-Savior."<br />
The great wrinkled hide shuddered and collapsed. The body of the Ancient One flowed in all directions.<br />
When the medical robots tried to enter, their way was blocked.<br />
After checking with Manager-Director/5, the Web-Con supervisor of the Slow One Transport contract,<br />
Electromagnetic-Manager/1 returned to the laser communicator. The human, Carole Swenson, had<br />
finished her sentence and was<br />
now looking wide-eyed at the screen as she read the message from the cheela. There wasn't time to wait<br />
for the human to react, so Electromagnetic-Manager/1 left a long message for the St. George computer<br />
and a shorter one for her.<br />
"Dragon Slayer will be disintegrated. Six Eyes of Bright will be collapsed. Return for crew in six<br />
months." He turned off the laser communicator, gathered his engineers and their robots, and headed for<br />
Dragon Slayer.<br />
Void-Maker/111 arranged her robotic crew with care around the periphery of the large viewport<br />
window in the south pole of the human spacecraft. When she received the signal from<br />
Manager-Director/5 she activated her console and the robots disintegrated the hull around the window.<br />
The viewport blew away as the air emptied out of the ship. She touched her tread screen and the image<br />
of another Web-Con engineer appeared. It was Graviton-Maker/321.<br />
"To you," said Void-Maker/111.<br />
"To me," replied Graviton-Maker/321.
Change language