Black Hole by Alan Dean Foster

Author:Alan Dean Foster [Foster, Alan Dean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Adventure, Science Fiction, Fiction, General, Science Fiction; American
ISBN: 9780345285386
Google: EltkIbzBB0QC
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 1979-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

His wits returned, and with them his voice. He smiled with difficulty. “Must’ve made a wrong turn. Guess my sense of direction’s not as sharp as I thought. I’ll be able to find the ship now, though.”

Maximillian gave no sign that this explanation impressed Mm, that he believed it, or that anything save Reinhardt’s explicit orders kept him from shredding Holland on the spot. The feeling it gave Holland was that this machine had been designed to distrust everyone and everything save its single human master.

He held the smile, though he had seen nothing to indicate that Maximillian could perceive and interpret expressions, and edged past the robot. Fear chilled him as he touched both wall and machine while squeezing by.

Maximillian’s gaze had shifted momentarily to the robots now filing out of the far end of the room. Then it turned to study Holland as the captain walked with a carefully measured stride back up toward the corridor. Holland forced himself not to look back. Behind him, the colossus slowly closed the door leading into the vaulted chamber.

The room was high-ceilinged and domed with some translucent material stronger than glass that had a refractive effect. It was a bubble within a far larger expanse. The larger, sealed-in section was a vast, diversified garden. Vegetables and fruit trees grew within the enclosure.

Harry Booth wandered into this inner chamber, his gaze held by the greenery and ripening fruits. For an instant he was able to forget he was dozens of light-years from Earth. He was back in midwestern North America, doing a report for his network on the coming crop year.

Yet the plants and trees he was seeing were growing in artificial soil. Some grew in no soil at all. They were kept alive and flourishing by the carefully regulated influx of specialized nutrients and fertilizers. He had seen more extensive hydroponic gardens, and denser vegetation, but none so efficient.

Their extent did not surprise him. A crew the size of the Cygnus’s would require corresponding food sources.

The smaller the proportion of recycled or concentrated foods, the healthier the crew would be. As large as it was, this was probably only one of several such artificial farms on board the great ship.

One of the mirror-faced humanoid machines stood before the main console, patiently monitoring readouts. Occasionally it would adjust a control. The trees and ranks of ripening vegetables growing outside the control bubble derived their nourishment from injections and modulated circulation of premixed chemicals. From the central console the watchful robot could alter their diet, their water supply, even their weather.

“Hello.” The mechanical did not respond. Not that Booth expected it would. That would have meant deviating from its programming. It might not, as its brethren in the control tower, be equipped to reply.

Instead, an arm moved, fingers stiffly turning a dial. A buzzing sound caused Booth to turn, look back into the artificially maintained undergrowth.

A swarm of tiny machines was flitting through the plants. The buzzing sound came not from the beat of tiny wings but from miniature engines and navigation systems.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.