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But he was far too keyed up to sleep. Finally, after an hour of restlessly changing positions, he went to his desk and dug out the tape from his family that ...
He was drifting comfortably toward sleep when a part of his sister's monologue seemed to pry itself under a corner of his consciousness. " . . . I've been ac...
Getting up, Jonny switched the player off . . . and by the time he got back into bed he knew what his decision had to be. Gwen's cheerful tapes to him, full ...
For a moment he considered calling MacDonald to tell the other of his decision . . . but the bed felt more and more comfortable as the tension began to leave...
Five minutes later, he was sound asleep.
* * *
He woke to the impatient buzz of his alarm, and as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, the answer popped into his mind. For a moment he lay still, his mind bu...
The wait was unusually long; MacDonald must have still been asleep. "Yes; hello," his voice finally came.
"It's Jonny, Ken. I know what Challinor's up to."
"You do?" MacDonald was suddenly alert. "What?"
"He's going to take over the Kerseage Mines."
Another long pause. "Damn," MacDonald said at last. "That has to be it. Over half of Aventine's rare-earth elements alone come from there. All he'd have to d...
"And the longer Zhu hesitates the weaker he looks," Jonny said, "and the more likely some of Challinor's 'neutral' Cobras will see him as the probable winner...
"Yeah. Damn. We've got to alert Capitalia, get them to send a force up there before Challinor makes his move."
"Right. You want to call them or shall I?"
"It'd be better if we were both on the line. Hang on; let's see if I remember how to do this-"
There was a double click. "Ariel," the operator said.
"The governor-general's office in Capitalia," MacDonald told it.
"I'm sorry, but I am unable to complete the call."
Jonny blinked. "Why not?"
"I'm sorry, but I am unable to complete the call."
"Do you suppose the satellite's out of whack?" Jonny suggested hopefully.
"Not likely," MacDonald growled. "Operator: Syndic Powell Stuart's office in Rankin."
"I'm sorry, but I am unable to complete the call."
And Rankin wasn't far enough away to require the communication satellite. "So much for coincidence," Jonny said, feeling a knot forming in his stomach. "How ...
"He could have done this any time in the past few days," MacDonald grunted. "I doubt if anyone's needed to talk to Capitalia or Rankin lately; certainly not ...
"Maybe that's why he sent Almo Pyre with notes instead of calling us from Thanksgiving," Jonny suggested, suddenly remembering. "Maybe all out-of-town contac...
"Maybe. Listen, I don't like using this phone, all of a sudden. Let's meet at Chrys's shop in, say, half an hour."
"Right. Half an hour."
Jonny clicked off the phone, and for a moment he stared at the little box, wondering if anyone had been eavesdropping on the conversation. Unlikely . . . but...
Jumping out of bed, he began pulling on his clothes.
One of Ariel's two fully qualified electronics technicians, Chrys shared a two-floor combination office/shop/storeroom near the roughly circular area in the ...
"Let's get inside," MacDonald urged, glancing around at the handful of other people that had appeared on the streets as the village began its preparations fo...
Inside, Chrys turned on some lights and sank into her workbench chair, yawning prodigiously. "Okay, we're here," she said. "Now would you care to explain wha...
"We're cut off from both Rankin and Capitalia," MacDonald told her. "Challinor's apparently jinxed the phone computer." He went on to describe Jonny's idea a...
"Damn him," Chrys muttered, her eyes wide awake now and flashing sparks. "If he's fouled up all the long-distance circuits, it'll probably take a week to rep...
"Well, that answers my first question," MacDonald said grimly. "Next question: can you build a transmitter of any kind here that can bypass the operator enti...
"In theory, sure. In practice-" She shrugged. "I haven't built a high-frequency focused-beam transmitter since my first year at school. It would take at leas...
"Can you use some of your spare telephone modules?" Jonny suggested. "That should at least save you some assembly time."
"Provided I don't overlap one of the regular frequencies and trigger a squelch reaction from the phone computer, yes," she nodded. "Readjusting built-in freq...
"Good. Get to work." MacDonald turned to Jonny. "Even if Challinor didn't set up a flag to let him know when anyone tries to call Capitalia, we should assume...
"Which is basically you and me," Jonny said.
"Plus those half-dozen pellet guns Chrys mentioned last night." He saw Jonny's expression and shrugged uncomfortably. "I know-living clay pigeons. But you kn...
"Maybe." All the ghosts of Adirondack were rising behind Jonny's eyes. Civilians getting killed in cross-fires . . . "What would we be doing, trying to guard...
MacDonald shook his head. "There's no way we can keep them out-they can abandon the road whenever they please if they don't mind having to kill a spine leopa...
"Maybe we should try the innocent approach, too," Chrys suggested, looking up from the book of circuit diagrams she'd been paging through. "As long as they h...
"I doubt if Challinor's letting any traffic travel east from here," MacDonald said, "but it's worth a try. You think your dad would be willing?"
"Sure," she reached for her phone . . . hesitated. "Maybe I'd better just ask him to come over and then explain things once he gets here. Challinor may have ...
The call took half a minute; Eldjarn asked no questions and said he'd be there right away. As Chrys broke the connection MacDonald started for the door. "I'm...
* * *