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.Derec wiped the dirt off his hands on some leaves. Now what? She asked, wiping off her own hands. Nothing s happening. CHAPTER 18DOWN A HOLEAt the far end of the valley, Wolruf sat quivering in the chilly air.She washuddled high in the mountains in a vertical crevice of rock.This was thecompromise she had reached for her conundrum: she was in the valley where shecould try to observe the humans or even Mandelbrot if they were here when daybroke.At the same time, she would not lead the Hunters following her directlyto them.Now she could not see any of them in the faint light down in the valley.Inthe nearer regions below her, function robots were visible doing theirregular chores among the crops.Her physiology kept her just warm enough atthis altitude to remain for a while, but she was not comfortable.Nor did shehave the energy left to run farther.She waited patiently, reviewing the moves she had made to break her trail.None of them could avoid a systematic search by the Hunters if they were closeenough to detect her heat.Also, the Hunters probably had checked the pass atsome point, because it was a bottleneck that could quickly tell them if shewas inside the valley or out.If her heat trail had faded before they had reached it, they still hadphysical signs to rely on.She had been as careful as possible, but therobotic vision of the Hunters could detect extreme detail.The rest was up tothem.Her ears perked up at the sound of footsteps on the rock fall below her.Withno more energy left for fleeing, she waited patiently.The giant shape of aHunter emerged from the darkness, thrown into silhouette by the distant glowemanating from the crops below.She knew it would not harm her, but it wouldtake her prisoner and possibly deliver her to Dr.Avery, who could certainlyharm her if he wished.She shivered as the Hunter reached down to pick her up.Derec was staring disconsolately at the dirt-covered sensor when it suddenlyerupted in an uneven spray, knocking loose some of the dirt.Ariel and heboth flinched.All around them, other spigots were also spraying jets of finemist into the air. That s it! Derec lifted his arms toward her. Let s go.Can you help me up? Ariel took his arms and pulled.His legs gave out under him.She wasn tstrong enough to lift him.She started to pull again. I can t walk any more. His lower legs and feet had lost all feeling. You can t walk at all? Her shoulders slumped. But I can crawl.Let s go. Derec.? Come on! He started crawling through the soft earth, which was quicklyturning to mud.She stood and walked alongside him. This is crazy.We re hardly gettinganywhere. We have a lot more time now.The Hunters can t follow our heat trail sothey ll have to start a pattern search.And at least one of them will have tocarry Mandelbrot after they ve shut him down. Derec, you ve only gone two meters! He stopped, sighing, and looked ahead.She was right.He could barely move. Hey what s that thing? What? She looked, too.Some kind of large rectangular shape, at least a cubic meter in size, wasPage 73 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlemerging from the ground below the trees. That.thing, there.We haven t seen one of those before. He startedcrawling again. There s one behind us, too, she said. And beyond that one.They re comingup all over.They were completely hidden before. We must have triggered them along with the irrigation.Go see what it is. She hurried ahead and stopped in front of the object, bending low in front ofit.After a moment, she came back and knelt down. I think we can get insideit.It looks like a ventilation duct or something. Derec nodded.He had stopped crawling to get his breath again.His head wasspinning dizzily.When she got down on all fours and moved under him, he let her.She gatheredhis arms around her neck and maneuvered under him.Then, supporting hisweight, she began to crawl much faster than he had, carrying as much of hisweight as she could.He hung on with his arms and closed his eyes against the spray of water. Here, she said, after a few moments.He opened his eyes into a gaping black opening with no other features.As sheeased out from under him, he reached inside and felt for the shape of theobject. It s not a straight drop. She helped him climb inside. You can feel agradual incline. Derec hesitated, too disoriented to speak but still reluctant to throw himselfinto an unknown hole. Go on, get in before the Hunters see us. He was losing all sense of his surroundings.Following directions was easierthan arguing.He worked his way inside the opening and then suddenly wassliding downward and accelerating.All was in darkness.He felt a rushing of air, the smooth pressure of thesurface against his back as he slid, and Ariel bumping against him from aboveas she slid with him.Vaguely, he realized he was too exhausted to feel anyfear.He should have been terrified of winding up in a moving fan blade, forinstance, or in the workings of some mysterious robot creation that wouldconvert them both to fertilizer.Apparently he had been on Robot City toolong for that.The robots couldn t allow that much danger to a human to existhere.No, that wasn t it, either.The reason was even simpler.Nothing on thisplanet was more frightening than the chemfets destroying his body from theinside at this very moment.The sensation of falling continued as they entered some turns, gradual curves,and finally reached a sudden upturn.In the short ascent, gravity broke their momentum and then they slid backwardagain.Derec lay motionless, aware that they had stopped in the bottom ofthis thing, whatever it was.No light reached them at all.He felt Ariel move a little, probably getting her bearings. Derec? She said softly. Are you hurt? A moment passed before he had the breath to answer. No, he whispered. ButI ve had it
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Tematy
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