Hyperion by Dan Simmons; Carlos Gardini
Author:Dan Simmons; Carlos Gardini
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Horror, Science-Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure
ISBN: 9780553283686
Publisher: Spectra
Published: 1989-05-26T10:00:00+00:00
It was another twenty minutes before the windwagon tied up to one of the wharves. The craft came out of the north, its sails white squares against a dark plain draining of color. The last light had faded by the time the large ship had tacked close to the low bluff, folded its main sails, and rolled to a stop.
The Consul was impressed. The thing was wooden, handcrafted, and hugeâcurved in the pregnant lines of some seagoing galleon out of Old Earthâs ancient history. The single gigantic wheel, set in the center of the curving hull, normally would have been invisible in the two-meter-tall grass, but the Consul caught a glimpse of the underside as he carried luggage onto the wharf. From the ground it would be six or seven meters to the railing, and more than five times that height to the tip of the mainmast. From where he stood, panting from exertion, the Consul could hear the snap of pennants far above and a steady, almost subsonic hum that would be coming from either the shipâs interior flywheel or its massive gyroscopes.
A gangplank extruded from the upper hull and lowered itself to the wharf. Father Hoyt and Brawne Lamia had to step back quickly or be crushed.
The windwagon was less well lighted than the Benares; illumination appeared to consist of several lanterns hanging from spars. No crew had been visible during the approach of the ship and no one came into view now.
âHallo!â called the Consul from the base of the gangplank. No one answered.
âWait here a minute, please,â said Kassad and mounted the long ramp in five strides.
The others watched while Kassad paused at the top, touched his belt where the small deathwand was tucked, and then disappeared amidships. Several minutes later a light flared through broad windows at the stern, casting trapezoids of yellow on the grass below.
âCome up,â called Kassad from the head of the ramp. âItâs empty.â
The group struggled with their luggage, making several trips. The Consul helped Het Masteen with the heavy Möbius trunk and through his fingertips he could feel a faint but intense vibration.
âSo where the fuck is the crew?â asked Martin Silenus when they were assembled on the foredeck. They had taken their single-file tour through the narrow corridors and cabins, down stairways more ladder than stairs, and through cabins not much bigger than the built-in bunks they contained. Only the rearmost cabinâthe captainâs cabin, if that is what it wasâapproached the size and comfort of standard accommodations on the Benares.
âItâs obviously automated,â said Kassad. The FORCE officer pointed to halyards which disappeared into slots in the deck, manipulators all but invisible among the rigging and spars, and the subtle hint of gears halfway up the lateen-rigged rear mast.
âI didnât see a control center,â said Lamia. âNot so much as a diskey or C-spot nexus.â She slipped her comlog from a breast pocket and tried to interface on standard data, comm, and biomed frequencies. There was no response from the ship.
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