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Dataset card Data Studio Files
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Caine straightened, reached into the carry-all, got the Thermos by the handle. He brought it out and up in a single arc, and then swung down. Hard.
Caine felt the shock of the blow from his wrist to his pectoral, restrained a sudden urge to retch as he heard the dull impact of the lead-lined Thermos again...
Digger made a shuddering hnnnhhhh sound, back arching-but he was not unconscious. Caine felt for the selector switch, snapped it to max, laid the baton across...
Digger made two quick gagging sounds and then was silent, his body quaking spasmodically. Caine cast the baton aside, stowed the Thermos, and pulled out the m...
Caine backtracked down the corridor, stopped at a ceiling-to-floor panel outlined in yellow-and-black caution striping, located the release bolts.
"Five minutes to zero-gee. Mr. Riordan is to report his whereabouts immediately by any means possible." The intercom went silent, but Caine heard Captain Burn...
"Breaching privacy protocol on your order, sir."
Caine undid the last bolt: the panel swung down.
And revealed a white door. Caine swallowed, so loud he could hear it. A cryopod-or, more accurately, a lifepod: the newest means of abandoning ship in a hurry...
He knelt down before the white door and began-inexpertly, and with the aid of a "how-to" program-to override the control protocols. And if I'm really lucky, I...
"Captain?"
"Yes, Trilling?"
"Sir, I have a red light on portside escape pod aught-five. Systems indicate that the pod is no longer in the command loop."
"Damn; as if we didn't have enough problems. Run a diagnostic."
"Sir, we can't. The pod is entirely nonresponsive."
"Bloody hell. Have security check it, then. Have them pull the damn thing's plug if they must."
Caine stared at the recessed handle in the center of the white door. You have to do it. You have to do it to yourself. And you have to do it now.
"Sir, no response from security in that sector."
"What the-? What sector, man?"
"Section B3: portside module pylon, just near hab mod DPV 6."
A long pause, then Burnham's voice-firm, decided-rapping out orders: the chance events-Caine's truancy from his suite in DPV 6, the pod's malfunction, securit...
Caine saw the second engineer glance up sharply at that command, then look uncertainly toward his control panel.
Time to leave. Caine pulled the handle in the center of the white door. The oval hatch opened with a pop and a sigh; the emergency klaxon shrilled at him. He ...
From there on, everything happened with unnatural speed. The door slammed shut behind him with a breathy squeal: hermetically sealed. Straps closed down aroun...
The sound and image on the palmtop were starting to break up. One of the bridge officers-Sensor Ops, probably-called out: "Sir, secondary array indicates we h...
"Engineering, confirm."
"Unable to confirm, sir. It's either away or no longer drawing power."
That was when the pod's real rockets kicked in: a less intense, but steady pressure on his chest pinned him down. Using the armrest controls, Caine snapped on...
"Sir,"-the sensor officer, again-"we've located Mr. Riordan's transponder signal-but we're losing it."
"Losing it?"
"Yes sir; best guess is that he's-"
"Aboard the pod. Yes, of course. Engineering, clear your board for an emergency counterboost. Communications, hail the Commonwealth and-"
But Caine didn't hear the rest: over the captain's shoulder, he saw the second engineer frown and pull a microdisk out of his breast-pocket. He slipped it int...
Still visible in the pod's viewscreen, the Tyne's massive engine decks flickered unevenly, flashed, then erupted into a burgeoning sphere of blue-white plasma...
The buffeting hit as the image of space came back; Caine tried to resist a sudden wave of nausea, most of which was not due to the rough ride. He hadn't saved...
The needle slid efficiently but sharply into his left forearm. As Caine felt the opiating warmth leap along his veins, he let himself look outward and flow in...
And he, Caine, homeward bound to his island in the archipelago of systems now navigated by humans, was returning with the answer to that question.
Unfortunately, Downing and IRIS might never have the opportunity to extract that answer from Caine, or from the data crystals in his shielded Thermos. It was,...
Which was, Caine conceded as he slipped deeper into the unnatural calm of a morphine haze, a most unsettling prospect.
PART THREE
Earth
March-April, 2119
Chapter Eleven
MENTOR
Richard Downing took his customary seat on the west end of the conference table, which afforded the best view of the white dome of the Capitol building. It was ...
Before Downing had finished settling in, the door opened, knob banging into the precisely dented wood paneling behind it: Nolan Corcoran's usual entrance. Cro...
His "Good to have you back, Rich" was accompanied by the usual hearty handshake-but there was a subtle thread of tension in the greeting.
Downing smiled. "It's good to be back. I presume you've already read the reports."