New Lensman Part 4

The lights were on outside. Larry motioned Pamela to follow him, scooped up a package he had prepared and they left, running.

The Sanctuary was a well-built shelter. It would not have survived a direct hit from a large meteor but at the time it was constructed no man-made structure could have survived. It was made to permit its inhabitants to survive something only slightly less. The sanctuary was a cube just over 120 feet on a side, covered with alloy plate a foot thick. Around the outside of this cube, was a layer of shock-absorbing material over 200 feet thick, and around that was a layer of composition material. The inner cube was accessible only by a series of elevators from the edge of the Dome, over a mile above. In theory, it was possible to evacuate the entire population of Copernicus via the elevators in something under 30 minutes. In fact, it had never been tried.

The Sanctuary had been built to permit the people it contained to survive. This meant severe limitations on the area presented as a target. There was no room for more than the absolute essentials. The only concession to privacy were the restrooms. The Sanctuary had four levels and a tremendous storeroom underneath, which could have provided an additional three levels if used for that purpose. Each level could exist independently of the other levels and each level was divided into five airtight sections; four rectangular dormitories around a central environmental control area. The central area was the primary source of air, water and power. The rest rooms were built into the central area. It was in one of these restrooms that Larry and Pamela had been imprisoned.

Larry and Pamela had escaped into a dormitory. A large room having vertical alloy 'I' beams every six feet in one direction and every four and a half in the other. To these girders tiers of bunks were attached, which folded up against the girders to form pa.s.sageways. Wider corridors, at right angles to the pa.s.sageways, were where lines of bunks were left out.

They ran down a pa.s.sageway formed on one side by the central section, and on the other by folded up bunks, to the intersection of a corridor where a stairway went up to the level above. Larry stopped at the foot of the stairway and looked up at the hatch that led into the level above, estimating the chances that a guard was behind it. If there was, any chances of catching him by surprise were exactly zero! The door was dogged, and opening the dogs would make too much noise.

They must be on the lowest level, since there was no similar hatch in the floor. A noise started.

It was the high-pitched whine of a motor. Looking behind him Larry saw a transparent case just above head level with a video camera in it. The camera was turning in their direction.

Larry froze for a moment and then grabbed Pamela's arm and pulled her down the corridor and behind a row of folded up bunks.

'You got here in an elevator, right?' he whispered urgently.

'Yes,' she answered.

'How many levels did you come down?'

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'Two,' she answered.

'Any idea where the control room to this place is?' he asked.

'What do you mean?'

'Somewhere in the Sanctuary is a control room,' Larry answered. 'They have communicators, video circuits to a.s.sess damage, and I don't know what else. That's where our captors are. I don't know if they saw us or not when we got out,' but they'll be after us shortly. The camera can't see the door we broke out of, but I'll bet that web was a detector of some kind.' Larry fell silent for awhile.

'I think we better hide you,' he finally whispered, and led the way toward the elevators.

An hour later the elevator doors opened. Three men, armed with hand guns, appeared. The elevator doors closed behind them. The leader, dressed in hospital whites, announced their presence in a loud voice with: 'All right, you two. Come out and you won't get hurt.'

All was silent.

'All right. If you won't come out, we're coming in to get you. This is your last chance,' the leader shouted.

Again only silence answered him.

The men started through the main corridor, past pa.s.sageways of folded up bunks, toward the central section. One of the men thought he saw something move down a line of unfolded bunks and fired at it. The slug went through the bunk, hitting the metal underneath it, and whined off down the narrow pa.s.sageway before embedding itself in another unfolded bunk.

'Hold it, Durk!' the leader said to the man who had fired the shot. 'Make certain you have a target before you fire. I don't want to get hit with a riocheting bullet.'

Durk grumbled but agreed and the men continued toward the center section.

Larry McQueen was standing on a bunk just above eye level. The bunks above the one he stood on had been removed and stored on a top bunk farther down the pa.s.sageway. He stood with his back flat against the folded up bunks of the pa.s.sageway behind him, his shoulder and side wedged into the slot of the 'I' beam. He had watched the three men come down the main corridor through the slot between a folded up bunk, and the ceiling. He was ready for them. In his hands were the two halves of the b.u.t.tons with the thin wire hooked between them. He waited. The first man went past. And the second. As Durk, the third man, pa.s.sed, Larry stepped out and knelt down, flipped the loop of wire over his head, around his neck, pulled it tight and yanked him back into the pa.s.sageway behind him. He swung Durk up onto the bunk behind him. Durk tried to grab for the wire that had already cut part way through his throat. The gun still in his hand. Larry realized that he wasn't going to be able to keep Durk on the bunk. He let go of the wire with one hand and grabbed the barrel of the gun and pulled.

The gun fired!

Larry was momentarily stunned, not by the bullet, which miraculously missed his head, but by the sound of a high caliber pistol going off within a foot of his head. His right hand holding the barrel felt numb. He dropped the other end of the wire and grabbed at the gun with his left hand.

Durk rolled off the bunk and fell to the floor, leaving the gun with Larry. Larry turned and fired the gun with his left hand. Not at a target but for effect and to be certain that if anyone had come back down the corridor, they wouldn't have a chance to shoot first. One of the men had returned and was trying to determine what was going on. The bullet struck him in the chest, knocking him backwards across the corridor. He tried to lift his gun. Larry put a bullet in his head.

Silence, except for the hoa.r.s.e sounds of Durk on the floor, wheezing through his cut throat, choking on his own blood.

The feeling returned to Larry's right hand. He exchanged gun hands, reached into his pocket and fumbled out a food container with a s.h.i.+ny top. He used the container as a mirror to look into the corridor without exposing himself.

No one was there.

Larry hesitated for a moment. The situation had changed from one of 'hide & seek' to 'tag', with the loser forfeiting his life. 'Here we go!' Larry thought. 'He knows where I am but I don't know where he is.' Larry glanced at the other end of the pa.s.sageway. Nothing yet. He reviewed his choices. 'I can wait here but he knows where I am and I can't watch every direction at once. I can run but not very far. I can hide, which isn't very effective now. I can fortify a position and wait for him to come to me.' Larry made his choice.

As fast as he could Larry flipped down bunks at his level and walked back to where the extra bunks were stored. They were metal plates with foam bonded to one side. He pulled two down. A minute later he had the two wedged vertically between bunks.

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There was a s.p.a.ce between the bottom bunk and the floor where someone's feet could be seen if he walked on the floor. Larry knelt on the bottom bunk. He slowly lowered the s.h.i.+ny container to see if he could see any feet. A shot sounded and the container was plucked from his fingers by a bullet.

It was a moment before Larry had recovered from the shock and noted that the can had gone under his bunk. That meant that the third gunman, the leader, was somewhere directly opposite him in the middle of a pa.s.sageway. He had apparently been waiting for Larry to put his foot on the floor.

Perhaps a smaller target wouldn't be seen. Larry pulled off another b.u.t.ton. The acid inside this one wouldn't help him but the s.h.i.+ny back might. He carefully lowered if to try to see what was going on. There was no sign of the other gunman. Larry hoped that what he had heard about the 1/16 inch steel plate deflecting bullets was correct. Using the b.u.t.ton to watch the pa.s.sageway behind him, he leaned against a vertical bunk, watching the opposite direction with every sense alert.

A minute later Larry saw a bunk halfway down the pa.s.sageway and against the opposite wall juggle.

Larry s.h.i.+fted position so he was behind the protecting vertical bunk, and waited. He again used the b.u.t.ton as a mirror. The bunk opened a little as the gunman peered out. Before Larry could react, it closed.

For a moment Larry felt the beginnings of panic. The gunman had him spotted. Larry was only too aware of the inadequacy of his preparations, especially against a mobile foe.

He would have to abandon his position immediately. His opponent knew exactly where he was. He had looked over Larry's defenses and knew what they were. He could be expected to attack them where they were the weakest.

Larry pushed down the bunk into the pa.s.sageway behind him and went through. He put his feet down on the floor, expecting any instant to feel the shock of a bullet hit them.

He ran silently down the pa.s.sage. As he ran, each instant he could feel someone leveling a pistol at his back from the other end, and expected the shock of a bullet. He made the corridor safely.

No one was in the pa.s.sageway behind him. He wiped his sweaty hand on the pants of his black and silver uniform and took a new grip on his weapon. Then he whipped around to the next pa.s.sageway.

The gunman hadn't attacked yet.

Two steps, and he whipped around the corner of the next pa.s.sageway. The gunman had quietly lowered the bunk in the pa.s.sageway opposite Larry's old position. He was crouched, ready to knock down the other bunk, and spring through the opening, firing.

'Freeze! You're covered!' Larry shouted.

There was a pause for a long moment as the gunman realized what had happened. Then, as if in slow motion, Larry saw him smile, turn his head and swing the gun around toward him.

Larry fired!

The gunman started to rise as his tensed muscles brought him up and over, to fall head first onto the floor. He twitched, tried to move and then lay still.

Larry moved in. He kicked the gun away from the gunman's hand and then checked him. Dead.

There was nothing in his pockets except a magnetic identification credit card. He checked the others. They didn't even have that. Then Larry went to get Pamela.

Most of the padding had been torn off two opposing bunks and Pamela was lying on her side in the s.p.a.ce left when they were folded back up. Larry pulled one of the bunks down and Pamela rolled out.

'You OK?' Larry asked.

'Yes. what happened?' Pamela said, sitting up and rubbing her arm.

'They're dead,' Larry said. He sat down on the end of the bunk. He lifted a hand to his forehead and wiped it. The hand trembled slightly. Reaction to the strain of the preceding minutes was beginning to set in. Larry recognized it as mild shock. He felt cold and tired but realizing why didn't help. His hand still shook. 'They're dead,' he repeated. 'I killed them.'

They sat there a moment, silent. Finally Larry drew a deep breath, sighed, shuddered and said, 'Our next step is to get out of here. Back up to the Dome.'

'How?'

Larry shrugged. 'Come on.' He got up and started back down the pa.s.sageway to the corridor, stumbling occasionally over nothing. Pamela followed.

At the corridor she glanced toward where the two gunmen lay. She turned away feeling sick. She followed Larry, who was going toward the elevators. Larry had warned her what to expect even before he had hidden her. Then it had excited her. Now, in the stark reality afterward, the full impact struck home. Suddenly she realized that this was not a game for fun but a grim battle, with pain and death at their elbow.

Larry shot out the television camera next to the elevator and walked over to the elevator's call b.u.t.ton. He pressed it. The doors opened immediately. The elevator was still there, waiting. The 2021

Emergency Stop switch was on. The indicator panel inside showed that the elevator would stop on the second floor of the Sanctuary. It was the only other stop before the Dome. Larry was willing to bet that a reception committee was waiting there for them.

He looked up at the ceiling of the elevator. A false grill covered it. He reached up and moved part of it aside. Above it was an access door in the top of the elevator. He motioned Pamela to him.

'I'll lift you up. You open that cover,' he said. He lifted her by the waist. She unlatched and opened the hinged sheet metal cover. He put her down and she stood there facing him. Then very carefully, very deliberately she put her hands on his cheeks, and pulled his head down to hers.

She kissed him on the lips. He put his arms around her and held her very tightly. When she had finished kissing him, he looked at her for a moment. 'Thank you,' he said softly. 'I wish I could stop now for a while, but your life depends on how fast we get out of here. If you feel like this later ... I don't know. We can't stop now.' In spite of what he said, he held her for a while longer than he need have, reluctant to stop, to end the moment.

He finally released her. She stepped back and he smiled sadly at her. Then looking up at the hole in the ceiling of the elevator, he jumped up through it.

He looked around the top of the elevator. Mounted in a bracket, looking down into the elevator through a hole in the ceiling, was a snoop. Larry unclipped it and picked it up. Two fine wires from it went to a small pressure cylinder with an automatic valve. One wire was broken. Larry broke the other and put the snoop into his pocket. Looking at the gas cylinder, he wondered if the gunmen had been wearing gas filters in their noses.

They were. Moments later both Larry and Pamela had them. Pamela also had a gun. He left the snoop on a bunk.

The next step in their escape was to get the elevator past the second level without stopping. That depended on how the elevator operated and on how fast he could find out.

Elevators have been fairly standard devices for ages. High speed, automatic elevators like the one in the Sanctuary have two speeds, one for going long distances and the other for going short distances or slowing before stopping at a floor. Elevators are automatically switched from speed to speed and stopped, using information sent to the control system from sensors attached to the walls of the elevator shaft, which the elevator cage operates as it pa.s.ses them.

Larry had to determine how these sensors were actuated and then disable or remove them.

He examined the top of the elevator cage and found the markers. They were three large magnets positioned in brackets, each facing a different wall of the shaft. The sensors were a little above them. He tried to find the next row of sensors but they were somewhere up above his reach. Using his gun as a hammer, he knocked the sensors out of alignment. Then dismantling the gun, he was able to use part of it as a tool to displace the magnets on the cage. He rea.s.sembled the gun.

Larry instructed Pamela to release the Emergency switch but to be ready to close it when he told her to. She released the Emergency switch and the elevator started up the shaft at low speed.

'Now! Stop!' he said, when the next row of sensors came into view. The elevator jolted to a stop as ridged plates jammed into the tracks in the wall of the shaft. Again he hammered the sensors on the elevator shaft out of alignment.

Now he had to take a chance. The next set of sensors would be just above the second level. In order to knock them out of alignment, in order to even reach them, the elevator cage would have to be almost in p1ace. Whoever was waiting for them would hear the elevator being stopped. They would hear Larry Working on the sensors. Attributing them any brains at all, they would fire through the elevator doors, even though they were closed. They could cut through the doors and jam the cage so it was inoperative long before Larry could displace the sensors. Even though he had displaced the magnets, he couldn't be certain that the sensors couldn't detect the elevator cage itself. That was why he had been working on the sensors.

'Release the Emergency switch and come up here,' he said to Pamela. She did so. The elevator started again at low speed. Up and past the second level sensors. Signals were sent to the control system that the elevator had just pa.s.sed the second level but its memory said it was still below the fourth level sensors. The control system became confused. The cage continued upward. And on up the shaft at low speed. Up and out of the Sanctuary. Up to the Dome.

The doors of the elevator opened on the top floor of the hospital at the south end of the Dome. A nurse with a man in a wheelchair, waiting for the elevator, was startled when two half-dressed people carrying guns stepped out. The man demanded the location of the nearest visiphone. The nurse mutely gestured down the hall toward the nurses' desk. The man ran for it, with the girl trailing a little behind. Behind them the doors of the elevator they had just left opened and closed, again and again. The elevator control for that shaft had become psychotic when it wasn't 2122

allowed to stop at the second level. The cage had come up to the top level of the shaft, where the final emergency stops had ended its upward motion.

The nurses' desk was a long counter with a built-in desk behind it. The phones were behind it on the wall. Larry didn't ask questions. He circled the counter and two nurses to the visiphone, and hit the On switch. The plate brightened.

'This is an EMERGENCY!' he said. 'Connect me to Director Hanovich of Security!'

The robot operator connected Lt. McQueen to Hanovich's office, where his secretary answered.

'This is Lt. McQueen! Connect me to Hanovich ! Emergency!'

She hesitated.

'NOW! MOVE!'.

Hanovich appeared a moment later.

'We've just escaped from the Sanctuary!' Larry said without preamble. 'I need a squad of armed men to cover the elevators and to go back down after them. How fast can you get them here?'

'15 minutes.'

'That's too long. I don't know if I can hold the cap on this situation that long.'

'Another elevator's just arrived,' Pamela reported. 'The doors are opening.'

A moment later the nurses, who had been watching in surprise, trying to understand what was going on, collapsed. Hanovich watched as one of the nurses fell toward the visiphone, her eyes enlarged, staring, bright and full of terror.

Larry caught the woman before she hit anything and eased her to the floor. 'V-2 gas,' he diagnosed. Pamela was kneeling at the end of the counter, firing at someone down the hallway.

Larry jumped up on the desk and looked around the corner into the hall. There were two of them.

One gunman behind the wheelchair in which a now unconscious patient slumped, the other still in an elevator. From the visiphone behind him came the sound of Hanovich snapping out orders and the sound of a siren in the background. Then the visiphone went off.

The men in the hall were firing at random now. They were not trying to advance. There was no cover at that point in the hall. Larry motioned to Pamela to wait. A minute went by. There was a sudden barrage of shots and the man behind the wheelchair dashed into the elevator. Larry was unable to get a shot at him. The elevator doors closed.