Barrington Bayley SF Gateway Omnibus: The Soul of the Robot, The Knights of the Limits, The Fall of Chronopolis by Barrington J. Bayley

Author:Barrington J. Bayley
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781473201941
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Published: 2014-03-05T23:00:00+00:00

‘Incredible,’ murmured Erled.

Ereton joined him from aft and peered over his shoulder at the flickering bank of instruments. ‘What is it?’

‘I think we’re being followed.’

They had been en voyage for just over two weeks. In the cramped space, Ereton leaned closer. Pretty soon there was no doubt of it: the image plates of both sonicscope and tremorscope sharpened to reveal that a second solidity ship was following them. And it was close.

While they stared in amazement they heard a ping and a light came on over the rockvid receiver. Erled flicked a switch. Across the plate streamed recurrent ripples that slowly built up a crude, low-definition picture carried by sonicwaves from the following ship.

The hooded face of Ergrad stared at them from the plate, distorted somewhat by the incessant ripples.

‘I never dreamed they’d go this far!’ Erled breathed.

The Proctors, presumably, were so furious at their escape that they had sent Ergrad in hot pursuit! The second ship must have been put together in a hurry by modifying a surveyor vessel. At that, Erled thought, the enforcer had done very well indeed to catch up with them so quickly. He must have strained the engines to the utmost, at considerable danger to himself.

Ergrad spoke, the words coming blurred through the speaker.

‘Erled, Ereton! Halt and turn your ship round at once! I am here to escort you back to the Cavity, where you will stand trial for your crimes!’

Erled and Ereton looked at one another quizzically.

‘No return!’ Erled said fiercely. ‘We keep going!’

Nodding, Ereton spoke into the transmitter microphone. ‘Sorry, Proctor, we can’t turn back now.’

‘Be warned that we are armed with quake beams and will not hesitate to use them! Obey or be destroyed!’ Ergrad glowered, and his voice was like iron.

‘What shall we do?’ Ereton hissed, switching off the microphone. ‘Those beams can shake us to pieces!’

‘Perhaps we can dodge them.’

Ereton crouched down behind Erled as the latter took over the controls. The solidity ship surged forward at top speed and began to weave about through the rock. Shortly afterwards there was a screeching, rumbling sound and the ship shook as though it were a bell struck by a giant hammer. Erled gasped as the vibrations caught hold of him and made him feel that he was being turned inside out.

Although they had been struck only a glancing blow, Erled had been counting on the fact that quake beams travelled fairly slowly through their rock medium and therefore were difficult to aim at a fast-moving object. Unfortunately, Ergrad – or whoever was operating the weapon – seemed to be skilled in its use.

Finding the controls unaffected by the strike, Erled put the ship through a dizzying series of turns. He knew that he had to avoid another hit and at the same time to put distance between himself and the pursuer, because their only hope lay in the probability that Ergrad’s vessel was limited in its range and therefore he would soon have to turn back.

He peered at the sonicscope

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