Sonata in Orionis (Earth Song Book 2) by Wandrey Mark

Author:Wandrey, Mark [Wandrey, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2012-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Julast 31th, 516 AE

Squeen Archeological Dig, GBX49881, Galactic Frontier

Minu stepped back behind the old fashioned polymer shield and thumbed the Concordia made forcefield into life before nodding to the technician. A few meters away instruments hummed and recorded the results as the technician aimed the sensors carefully.

"Ready?" Gregg asked. He'd volunteered to test this new weapon even before he'd seen it. He shouldered the contraption which resembled nothing so much as a huge mess of pipes and wires connected by power cables. A rubber pad was screwed to one end to act as a butt stock, and handle protruded about half way down the gun just in front of where the power cable attached to act as a pistol grip. With some obvious concern he leveled the 'gun' at a distant target and tried to aim. Since it lacked any sort of a sight, or even an obvious barrel, it was no easy task. "Tell me again why I don't get to stand behind a forcefield?" he asked.

"You don't do this sort of stuff all day long," Minu explained patiently, "we're sure it won't explode but there is some small radiation splash."

"Oh, that's okay then!” Gregg said and eyed the weapon dubiously one more time. He finally settled on aiming it as best he could and pulled the trigger. There was a humming sound as power flowed and a little pop of light out the other end, and that was it. "Did it fire?"

"No energy spike," the technician said. Gregg mumbled something uncomplimentary and tried to fire again. This time the tech just shook his head, same results.

"Damn it," Minu snarled and yelled into a microphone. "Pip, what the fuck?"

"I'm running the data, trying to figure it out!" he yelled back. Even though the project was his brainchild, that didn't stop him from collating the data from the safety of their labs on the third floor. He said he needed more direct access to the main computers. Gregg made an uncomplimentary suggestion of what he should do with his computers.

"Tell me again," Gregg said from where he cradled the non-functioning weapon in both hands, "why did Pip decide to test a power interface by building a hybrid monster gun?"

Minu couldn't help laughing. "I think he was trying to kill to kloth with one stone."

"Can we avoid using the term kill?"

"Sorry. The interface project was Alijah's pet. He figured out a way to adapt Mok-Tok EPC interfaces to our systems. The first model has a high power transfer rate and lab tests just weren't giving us the level of results we wanted. When I said we needed to up the power on the tests Pip conveniently suggested this little toy he'd been working on in his spare time."

"Spare time my ass," Pip said over the radio. The reception popped and hissed from five stories above. The high energy test facility was a long ceramic concrete walled gouged from bedrock three floors below ground, the same bedrock as the commander center several kilometers farther down.

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.