2020-08-01 09:47:29.059561 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Format: epub
Published: 2014-07-21T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN: THE WRECK

"SHE'S TRYING TO dig into that!" Kosti marvelled.

Wilcox snapped out of his surprise and turned off the motor so that the crawler stopped heaving, nuzzling the rock wall through which its "memory" urged it.

"They must have put a false set of co-ordinates on purpose," suggested Rip.

But Dane, remembering that earlier trail which had ended in the same fashion, stepped around Shannon and pressed his palms against the slimy, wet surface of the rock. He was right!

Fainter than it had been in that other valley, the vibration crept up his arms into his body. Not only that, but it was building up, growing in strength even as he stood there. He could feel it now in the ground, striking through the soles of his boots. And the others caught it too.

"What in the—!" exploded Wilcox who had hitched forward on the crawler to copy the experiment. "This stuff must be hollow—that installation Tang talked about—"

That was it, of course, the installation which the com-tech was sure must rival Tarra's largest computer, was broadcasting—not only in the sound waves picked up on the Queen, but through the stuff of Limbo itself! But what was that vast power being used for and why? And what was the trick which could send a crawler through solid rock? For Dane did not agree with Rip that the radar guide had been tempered with.

If that had been done it would have been more sensible to set it on a point far out in the barrens, leading any would-be trackers into the midst of nowhere.

"There's a trick in this—" Wilcox muttered as he moved his hand with patting motions across the stone.

But Dane was sure that the astrogator was not going to spring any hidden latch that way. His own examination of that other wall in the bright light of day had taught him the futility of such a hunt.

Kosti leaned against one of the caterpillar treads of the crawler. "If it went through there once, it isn't going to do it now. We don't know how to open the right door. A stick of thorlite might just get us in."

"Now that's a course I can compute, man." Rip hunkered down, running his hands along the ground line of that exasperating cliff. "How big a stick would do it, do you think?"

But Wilcox shook his head. "You don't lift ship without coordinates. Here," he swung to Kosti, "link comunits with me and let's see if with double power we can raise the Queen."

The jetman unhooked the energy core of his helmet com and joined it to Wilcox's in an emergency linkage.

"The installation is picking up voltage," Dane warned, judging by the vibration singing through his finger tips. "Do you think you can break through the interference, sir?"

"That's a thought." Wilcox pulled at his mike. "But they've never been on steady. We can wait for a break in their broadcast."

Rip and Mura came back to the wall. The vibration was a steady beat. Dane walked along to the right.

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