Antigrav Unlimited by Duncan Long

Author:Duncan Long [Long, Duncan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780380753574
Amazon: 038075357X
Goodreads: 172339
Publisher: Avon Books
Published: 1988-07-31T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Though the sun had hardly changed position, the Earth above us had rotated almost a half turn and our muscles were starting to complain even with the reduced gravity of the Moon. My stomach rumbled from time to time since I'd avoided trying to use the liquid garbage from the eating tubes in my space suit.

Eventually the van was crammed full of bots. The little gophers filled in the spaces between the larger bots and the "spiders" were stored end wise with all their legs folded. Added to this were the four cylindrical lab bots lashed to each side of the van with four more strapped to the top, along with a case of "brains" for the units back at what had become our home base.

It'll never fly, I thought, though I knew better. Lifting off was not going to be a problem. Taking the full crew of humans was. And I knew that no one would take seriously my suggestion of strapping Jake to the hood of the van.

We finally all got scrunched into our seats. Little gophers were fitted in all around each of us. I felt like a mother Saint Bernard. "You know, this is pretty dangerous," I warned. "One impact and they'll never sort the meat from the metal."

"Don't worry," Nikki said. "The computers will handle the whole thing."

As I tried my best to forget how often my lab computers froze during calculations, we lifted off on yet another terror express journey. Once I got the van over the rim of the crater, the computer locked onto our home beacon and we whisked over the jagged mountain range at almost as great a speed as we'd traveled with before.

"You know, we could program a bot to fly this route and free us up to work at the base," Nikki said.

"I don't know... What if something broke down. There we'd be without a way to travel to repair it. It's a long walk back to the Earth."

"Yeah, you're probably right. But once we get to manufacturing the rods, we'd be able to do something like that. Use some of the gear back in the warehouse."

"We could even build a bot/computer vehicle that could be used just for such tasks."

"Like the rocket expresses on Earth," Jake said from behind a pile of bots in the back.

"Don't remind me of the automated rockets on Earth," Nikki said, " I'm still bitter."

"Getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to you," I said. "Just think, you wouldn't be with us if you hadn't gotten canned. Instead, of riding in a flying junk yard, you'd be sitting at home enjoying yourself."

"Not being in an itchy, sweat-filled suit wouldn't be without its finer points," Nikki said. "But I'm glad I'm here with--"

At that point, the computer failed and we dropped like a rock.

It was only a few moments before the second computer kicked in but I think we all thought we'd had it. Our downward drop was checked with what felt like a quick kick in the seat of the pants.

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