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BlinAI
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Testo

Dataset card Data Studio Files
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Caine followed along the sightline of the alien arm, hand, finger-and noted, with surprise, that he was looking at something very familiar. Although appearing...
The surrounding stellar patterns similarly reprised those found in Earth's own night sky. The Big Dipper was still discernibly part of the larger constellatio...
Caine stood silently for several long seconds, waiting. Okay: so I'm looking. He turned; Mr. Local was very close, and Caine finally saw his eyes-a triangle o...
Mr. Local withdrew his arm and waited a moment. Then with great, deliberate slowness-as if educating a child of unpromising perspicacity-he pointed at Caine. ...
Okay-I get it. Right-there: and Caine noted that the finger was pointing at Ursa Majoris' new eye-or to the horn just above it: he couldn't quite tell.
Caine frowned: what was so important about this bright new star in Ursa Majoris? A new star-which meant it had to be a star that was between Delta Pavonis and...
Brinkley. Brinkley had mentioned that, from Delta Pavonis, you could locate Alpha Centauri by finding it crowded into the head of Ursa Major. So the big yello...
Caine felt his skin freeze and the hair on the back of his neck rise up. Trembling, he turned slowly to look at Mr. Local, who leaned back a little and emitte...
Caine turned back, his legs shaking, saw nothing but the little yellow star, heard nothing but Brinkley's inane introductory chatter: ". . . as seen from this...
Earth. He's pointing at Earth. He knows I'm from-
Caine spun around: Mr. Local was gone. As if he had never been there. Caine swallowed, heard the great mechanical gulping noise it made in his throat, and tur...
And then, all the pieces started to fall into place-
Chapter Ten
ODYSSEUS
Caine, alone on the observation deck of the interface liner Tyne, had to admit that there wasn't any concrete evidence that the new second engineer was actually...
Indeed, the image on Caine's bug-linked palmtop showed the bridge crewman merely carrying out the same routine duties he had been performing for five days now...
Caine stole a starboard glance of his own: the Tyne's gallery window framed a craft shaped like a cubist kraken of deep space. She was the shift carrier Commo...
He forced himself to return their stare, and thought: there's no way I'm going to use a cryopod again. Not now; not ever. Common sense countered: You may have...
The rotation of the Commonwealth's habitation nacelles was slowing: that meant the end of spin-gravity and the start of docking preparations. Soon Caine's hab...
The negation was swift: no, you can't-not until you're sure. And if Caine couldn't be sure, then he might have to initiate an escape plan that bordered on lun...
He zipped open the bag: a big-handled aluminum Thermos, a multi-tool, a bottle of antidiarrheic tablets, and his shipboard transponder. He dug out the transpo...
But Caine held the silver card tight. Dropping the transponder was the final step. It meant he was committed-at least symbolically-to executing an escape plan...
The speakers toned twice. "All passengers: please return immediately to your staterooms. Counterthrust will end in fifteen minutes." On his palmtop, Caine saw...
Caine watched the second engineer closely: the end of thrust meant the end of pseudo-gravity on the Tyne. If the new second engineer was an assassin, he would...
But the second engineer's only movement was a hand raised to cover a yawn.
Caine checked his watch. He doesn't have enough time to get to me anymore-not before my hab module and I are transferred to the Commonwealth. Whether he's an ...
As he left the observation lounge, a quick double-tone signaled another general announcement. "Attention. Counterthrust will terminate in thirteen minutes. Al...
Smiling slightly, the second engineer snapped a toggle with his left forefinger. Clearly, the only possible reason that the engineer did not move to pursue Ca...
Riordan felt himself lean toward that comforting thought, but fought back. No: the answer you like the most is the one you should trust the least. Go over the...
Downing had warned Caine to be watchful when he started back to Earth, and had provided special tools to help him watch: six near-microscopic AV bugs and the ...
So, furnished with all the friends that government monies could buy, Caine had made daily circuits around each ship's concourse. After surreptitiously plantin...
A week before they were scheduled to transfer to the Commonwealth, the Tyne's captain-an amiable Scot named Burnham-got on the shipwide at 0400 hours, apologi...
As if to confirm Caine's worst fears, the second engineer appeared in the Tyne's concourse soon after. Using the pre-positioned bugs, Caine watched the new br...
Caine countered with a few calls to his fellow passengers on DPV 6. Ten minutes later, a convivial group had gathered at Le Cafi Viennese. The endless stream ...
Nothing even vaguely suspicious, Caine recited to himself as he entered the module access tube. Forty meters away, the watch officer manning the security chec...
He froze. Kill himself? Kill himself? What if the second engineer is on a suicide mission? Logic rebutted quickly: Another human being ready to die just to ki...
The drives. During docking. That was it. As they prepared to dock with the Commonwealth, Burnham would give a shut-down order, requiring the engineer to acces...
But the Tyne would not shut down her engines until she had come right alongside the Commonwealth. And at that range-
Caine discovered that he had stopped breathing: the two ships, including crew, were carrying almost seven thousand people. Caine glanced at the bridge feed on...
Caine shuddered. Yes, he'll miss me-but no one else on the Tyne or the Commonwealth will survive. Unless, that is, Caine took the transponder with him when he...
The other options were scant and unpromising. Caine could attempt to convince Burnham to relieve the second engineer-but how, with only a few minutes left and...
And then, the memory of Downing's measured voice and somber face intruded: "You must not, under any circumstances, reveal your mission. You may have to make d...
Fuck that. Caine jammed the transponder back down into his bag, clenched his teeth so they wouldn't chatter, and reactivated the insane escape plan he had jus...
He retrieved the bottle of pills from the carry-all, popped the cap, tumbled a few into his palm. Ten meters to go, and Digger Mack was shifting impatiently f...
Digger was frowning. "Here, mate, where've you been? Look worse for wear, you do."
Caine inhaled: point of no return. He held up the tablets, swayed a little. "Got some bad food. Or somethin'. Went to the dispensary."
Digger's sympathetic tone contrasted sharply with his hurried movements. "'Kay then, Caine. Let's get through the check and then into the couches. You know th...
Caine laid the bag down, fumbled to put the pills back in the bottle, failed, juggling unsuccessfully as they fell and skittered in every direction.
"Ah-" began Digger, and then, apparently suppressing a string of expletives, he bent over to help scoop up the pills.