Berserker 16 - Berserker Prime (Novel) by Fred Saberhagen

Author:Fred Saberhagen [Saberhagen, Fred]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2003-11-21T07:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

Huang Gun, rejected, stood staring for a moment at the closed door of the elevator. Then the faint noise of the angry crowd outside, penetrating the walls of the Citadel, recalled him to his duty. The hostages ... whether the president was willing to see him or not, they were still his responsibility. He could not take seriously the absurd suggestion that they be loaded on a ship and sent out to the enemy as a kind of sacrifice. No telling what might happen to them out there.

He acted on a sudden impulse, and half a minute later was slipping out into the street, through a small door in the side of the Citadel. Before he could be certain of what his duty was, he had to make sure how close the attacking enemy had actually come. He had told no one, not even the people on his own staff, where he was going, or why. The decision he would soon be forced to make regarding the young Huveans would be his, and his alone.

If the president refused to speak to him, so be it. If this attack had truly been launched by Huvea

But he must not judge until he was sure of the facts. He must make certain.

Timber’s defensive forcefields were still in place, maintaining what seemed a useless effort to defend the planet. All they seemed to be accomplishing was to blur and blot the sky, making it impossible to distinguish day from night. Having gone a moderate distance, the executioner saw some casualties being evacuated, robots and humans bearing improvised stretchers between them. Among the fallen being carried away, almost all of them in soldiers’ uniforms, Huang Gun noted several bodies that he was sure were dead.

Fascinated by the sight, he kept working his way closer and closer to where the fighting was going on. It seemed the army was not easily discouraged, and part of it was still here, exchanging fire with the invaders.

Something slammed, with incredible violence, into the wall a couple of stories above Huang Gun’s head. Reeling with the shock, he was half stunned by a cascade of falling rubble. He found himself crouched, head aching, body half lying on the sidewalk, with a slab of some lightweight building material weighing on his legs and back.

Moments, or perhaps it was minutes, later, dazed and bruised, he managed to pull himself free, but a little help was necessary before he could do that.

“Are you all right, sir?” The woman was almost shouting in his ear.

“Fine ... please, there are things that I must do. A duty to accomplish.”

“You must evacuate this area! Get to a shelter!”

He nodded and mumbled something, getting to his feet. No one tried to detain him. There were plenty of other casualties in more need of help than he was.

Huang Gun moved on, feeling only slightly dazed. Somehow, on some inward, basic level, he seemed to know where he was going.

...resting, again somewhere on the fringe of a combat area, he could hear people discussing the latest rumor.

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