"It's mechanical trouble of some sort," he said uneasily. "There's one way of finding out."
Before he could move, Anti was in the corridor that led away from the control compartment4.
"Stay here, Anti," he said. "I'll see what's wrong."
She reached nearly from the floor to the ceiling. She missed by scant5 inches the sides of the passageway. Locomotion6 was easy enough for her; turning around wasn't. Anti didn't turn.
"Look, honey," her voice floated back. "You brought me along for the ride. That's fine, but I'm not satisfied with it. I want to earn my fare. You stay and run the ship because you know how and I don't. I'll find out what's wrong."
"But you won't know what to do, Anti." There was no answer. "All right," he said in defeat. "Both of us ought to go. Jordan, you stay at the controls."
Anti led the way because Docchi couldn't get around her. Determinedly7 he shuffled8 along. There was a trick to magneslippers that he had nearly forgotten. Slowly it was coming back to him—shuffle instead of striding.
It was a dingy9, poorly lighted passageway in an older ship. Handicap Haven10 definitely didn't rate the best equipment that was produced. On one side was the hull11 of the ship; on the other, a few small cabins. None were occupied. Anti stopped. The passageway ended in a cross corridor that led to the other side of the ship.
"We'd better check the stern rocket tubes," he said, still unable to see around her. "Open it up and we'll take a look."
"I can't," said Anti. "There are handles, but the thing won't open. There's a red light, too. Does that mean anything?"
His heart sank. "It does. Don't try to open it. With your strength, you might be unlucky enough to do it."
"That's a man for you," said Anti sharply. "First he wants me to open it, and then he tells me not to."
"There's a vacuum in there. The combustion12 cap has been retracted13. That's the only thing that will actuate the warning signal. You'd die in a few seconds if you somehow managed to open the lock to the rocket compartment."
"What are we waiting for? Let's get busy and fix it."
"Sure, fix it. You see, Anti, that didn't happen by itself. Someone, or something, was responsible."
"Who?"
"Did you see anyone when we were loading your tank in the ship?"
"Nothing. I heard Cameron shouting, a lot of noise. All I could see was what was directly overhead. What does that have to do with it?"
"I think it has to do with a geepee. I thought they all dropped outside. Maybe there was one that didn't."
"Why a geepee?" she asked blankly.
"In the first place, no man is strong enough to move the combustion cap. But if he should somehow manage to exert super-human effort, as soon as the cap cleared the tubes, rocket action would cease. The air in the compartment would exhaust into space and anyone in there would die."
"So we have a dead geepee in there."
"A geepee doesn't die. Not even become inactive; it doesn't need air." Docchi tried to think the thing through. "Not only that, a geepee might be able to escape from the compartment. The lock would close as soon as the pressure dropped. But a geepee...."
Anti settled down grimly. "Then there's a geepee on the loose, intent on sabotage14?"
"I'm afraid so," he admitted worriedly.
"What are we standing15 here for? We'll go back to controls and pick up the robot on radio. What it damaged, it can repair." She was partly turned around now and saw Docchi's face. "Don't tell me," she said. "I suppose I should have thought of it. The signal doesn't work inside the ship."
Docchi nodded. "It doesn't. Robots are never used aboard, so the control is set in the bow antenna16 and the ship, of course, is insulated."
"Well," said Anti happily, "we've got a robot hunt ahead of us."
"We do. And our bare hands to hunt it with."
"Oh, come now! It's not as bad as all that. Look, the geepee was back here when the rockets stopped. Could it get by the control compartment without our seeing it?"
"It couldn't. There are two corridors leading through the compartment, one on each side of the ship."
"That's what I thought. We came down one corridor and no geepee was in it. It has to be in the other. If it goes into a cabin, a light will shine on the outside. It can't really hide from us."
"Sure, we'll find out where it is. But what are we going to do with it when we find it?"
"I was thinking," said Anti. "Can you get around me when I'm standing like this?"
"I can't."
"Neither can a geepee. All I need is a toaster, or something that looks like one, and I can drive the robot into the control compartment for Jordan to pick off." Determinedly, she began to move toward the opposite corridor. "Hurry back to Jordan and tell him what we're doing. There ought to be another toaster on the ship. Probably there's one somewhere in the control compartment. Bring it back to me."
Docchi bit his lip and stared at the back of the huge woman. "All right," he answered. "But stay where you are. Don't try anything until I get back."
Anti laughed. "I value my big, fat life," she said. There were other things she valued, but she didn't mention them.
Docchi went as fast as the magneslippers would allow, which wasn't very fast. The strategy was simple, but it didn't follow that it was sound—a toaster for Jordan and one for Anti, if another could be found.
Anti would block the corridor. A geepee might go through her, but it could never squeeze past her. The robot would have to run for it. If it came toward Anti, she might be able to burn it down. But she would be firing directly into the control room. If she missed even partially—
The instruments were delicate.
It wasn't better if Jordan got the chance to bring down the robot. Anti would be in the line of fire. No, that wasn't good, either. They'd have to think of something else.
"Jordan," called Docchi as he entered the control compartment. Jordan wasn't there. Nona was, still gazing serenely17 at the gravity indicator18.
Lights were streaming from the corridor on the opposite side of the compartment. Docchi hurried over. Jordan was just inside the entrance, the toaster clutched grimly in his hand. He was hitching19 his truncated20 body slowly toward the stern.
Coming to meet him was Anti—unarmed, enormously fat Anti. She wasn't walking; somehow it seemed more like swimming, a bulbous, flabby sea animal moving through the air. She waved her fins21 against the wall and propelled herself forward.
"Melt him down!" she cried.
It was difficult to make out the vaguely22 human form of the geepee. The powerful, shining body blended into the structure of the ship itself—unintentional camouflage23, though the robot wasn't aware of that. It was crouched24 at the threshold of a cabin, hesitating between the approaching dangers.
Jordan raised the weapon and as instantly lowered it. "Get out of the way," he told Anti.
There was no place for her to go. She was too big to enter a cabin, too massive to let the geepee squeeze by her even if she wanted it to.
"Never mind that. Get him," she answered.
A geepee was not a genius even by robot standards. It didn't need to be. Heat is deadly; a human body is a fragile thing. This it knew. It ran toward Anti. Unlike man, it didn't need magneslippers. It had magnetic metal feet which could move fast, and did.
Docchi couldn't close his eyes, though he wanted to. He had to watch. The geepee torpedoed25 into Anti. And it was the robot that was thrown back. Relative mass favored the monstrous26 woman.
The electronic brain obeyed its original instructions, whatever those were. It got to its feet and rushed toward Anti. Metal arms shot out with dazzling speed and crashed against the flesh of the fat woman. Docchi could hear the thud. No ordinary person could take that kind of punishment and live.
Anti wasn't ordinary; she was strange, even for an accidental, living far inside a deep armor of flesh. It was possible that she never felt the crushing force of those blows. Amazingly, she grasped the robot and drew it to her. And the geepee lost the advantage of leverage27. The bright arms didn't flash so fast nor with such lethal28 power.
"Gravity!" cried Anti. "All you've got!"
She leaned against the struggling machine.
Gravity. That was something he could do. Docchi turned, took two steps before the surge of gravity hit him. It came in waves, the sequence of which he was never able to disentangle. The first wave staggered him; at the second his knees buckled29 and he sank to the floor. After that his eardrums hurt. He thought he could feel the ship quiver. He knew dazedly30 that an artificial gravity field of this magnitude was impossible, but that knowledge didn't help him move.
It vanished as suddenly as it had come. Painfully his lungs expanded. Each muscle ached. He rolled to his feet and lurched past Jordan.
He didn't find the mass of broken flesh he expected. Anti was already standing.
"Oof!" she grunted31 and gazed with satisfaction at the twisted grotesque32 shape at her feet. The electronic brain had been smashed, the body flattened33.
"Are you hurt?" asked Docchi gently, awed34.
She waggled the extremities35 of her body. "Nope, I can't feel anything broken," she said solemnly. She moved back to get a better view of the robot. "I'd call that throwing my weight around. At the right time, of course. The secret's timing36. And I must say you picked up your cue with the gravity well." Her laughter rolled through the ship.
"It wasn't I," said Docchi.
"Jordan? No, he's just getting up. Then who?"
"Nona," said Docchi. "It had to be her. She saw what had to be done and did it. But how she got that amount of gravity—"
"Ask her," said Anti with fond irony37.
Docchi grimaced38 and limped back into the control room, followed by Anti and Jordan. Nona was at the gravity panel, her face pleasant and childlike.
"Gravity can be turned on or off," said Docchi puzzledly, searching her face for some sign. "And regulated, within certain narrow limits. But somehow you doubled or tripled the normal amount. How?"
Nona smiled questioningly.
"Gravity engineers would like to know that too," said Jordan.
"Everybody would like to know," Anti interrupted irritably39. "Except me. I'm too pragmatic, I suppose, but I want to know when we start the rockets and be on our way."
"It isn't that easy," sighed Jordan. "A retracted combustion cap in flight generally means at least one burned-out tube." He made his way to the instrument panel and looked at it glumly40. "Three."
"A factor." Docchi nodded. "But I was thinking about the robot."
Anti was impatient. "An interesting subject, no doubt. What about it?"
"Where did it get instructions? Not radio; the hull of the ship cuts off all radiation. The last we knew, it was in our control."
"All right, how?"
"Voice," said Docchi. "Cameron's voice, to be exact."
"But he was in the rocket dome," Jordan objected.
"Think back to when we were loading the tank. We had to look through the telecom and the angle of vision was bad. We couldn't see much of the cargo41 lock. Anti couldn't see anything that wasn't directly overhead. Both Cameron and the geepee managed to get inside and we didn't know it."
Jordan hefted his weapon. "Looks like we've got another hunt on our hands. This time a nice normal doctor."
"Keep it handy," said Docchi, glancing at the toaster. "But be careful how you use it. One homicide and we can forget what we came for. I think he'll be ready to surrender. The ship's temporarily disabled; he'll consider that damage enough."
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
momentum
|
|
| n.动力，冲力，势头；动量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
futilely
|
|
| futile（无用的）的变形； 干 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
wring
|
|
| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
compartment
|
|
| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
scant
|
|
| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
locomotion
|
|
| n.运动，移动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
determinedly
|
|
| adv.决意地；坚决地，坚定地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
shuffled
|
|
| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
dingy
|
|
| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
haven
|
|
| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
hull
|
|
| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
combustion
|
|
| n.燃烧；氧化；骚动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
retracted
|
|
| v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
sabotage
|
|
| n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
antenna
|
|
| n.触角，触须；天线 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
serenely
|
|
| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
indicator
|
|
| n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
hitching
|
|
| 搭乘； （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的现在分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
truncated
|
|
| adj.切去顶端的，缩短了的，被删节的v.截面的( truncate的过去式和过去分词 )；截头的；缩短了的；截去顶端或末端 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
fins
|
|
| [医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
camouflage
|
|
| n./v.掩饰，伪装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
crouched
|
|
| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
torpedoed
|
|
| 用鱼雷袭击（torpedo的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
monstrous
|
|
| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
leverage
|
|
| n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
lethal
|
|
| adj.致死的；毁灭性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
buckled
|
|
| a. 有带扣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
dazedly
|
|
| 头昏眼花地，眼花缭乱地，茫然地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
grunted
|
|
| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
grotesque
|
|
| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
flattened
|
|
| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
awed
|
|
| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
extremities
|
|
| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
timing
|
|
| n.时间安排，时间选择 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
irony
|
|
| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
grimaced
|
|
| v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
irritably
|
|
| ad.易生气地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
glumly
|
|
| adv.忧郁地，闷闷不乐地；阴郁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
cargo
|
|
| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |