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"What do you mean, `burnt out'?"
"If you care to look down, sir."
Evan did so. It took an effort because the suit servos were not
responding smoothly. Behind him, the hedge was now putting forth only
intermittent, feeble flashes that were somehow familiar.
Black scars ran the length of the MHW. In a few places the supposedly
invulnerable duralloy exterior had been melted completely away, revealing
smoking components and circuitry. The area around the suit's right knee was
gone entirely. Thin wires and connectors hung from the hole. Wisps of gas
drifted out, showing where the supercooling insulators had been violated. He
was leaking liquid nitrogen from several joints. No wonder he couldn't move.
Anxiously, he looked back at the hedge. Another burst of light, a long
pause, and then a last. At the same time it struck him. What he was seeing in
action was an ultraviolet laser.
But that was insane. People used lasers against hostile primitive
lifeforms. Primitive lifeforms didn't use lasers against people.
The suit confirmed the impossible. "Remarkable, sir, most remarkable.
There are no previous records from anywhere in the Commonwealth of a living
form lasing naturally. Perhaps such an evolutionary development here should
have been anticipated."
"It's not possible-no," he hastily corrected himself, "obviously it is
possible."
"It is fortunate that we are no longer perceived as a danger. I reacted
as quickly as possible, sir. I was barely able to recognize the threat in time
to protect you from serious harm."
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"I still don't see how one or two plants could generate enough energy to
cut through duralloy."
"One or two could not. However, we were not attacked just by those
growths we were cutting through. Apparently a danger to one is perceived as
danger to all. It took a while for the hedge to mount a collective response to
our penetration. On Earth, trees under attack warn one another by chemical
means. Here the method must be different, but it is no less efficient, and the
response considerably more so.
"These growths are photovores, like many we have seen. Unlike those
encountered previously, however, these apparently have developed the ability
to concentrate enormous amounts of energy within themselves and then to
release it all at once, in powerful bursts. As each growth adds its own quota
of energy to the pulse, the effect is magnified repeatedly. We were attacked
by a single entity ten meters in depth and five in height and at least several
kilometers in length, that constitutes a laser of considerable potential.
Strong enough even to penetrate duralloy.
"I am sorry, sir. I was designed to cope with assaults from unexpected
nonsentient alien lifeforms, but as nothing like this has ever been
encountered before it could not possibly have been foreseen. Prior experience
on new worlds suggests an explorer needs to be ready to fend off tooth and
claw, venom, or sheer muscle. I am capable of dealing efficiently with
infinite variations of same, including such unlikely forms of attack as
ultrasound and acid, which we have already encountered. I was designed to
defend against hostiles which can bite, cut, bludgeon, spit, secrete, or
vibrate. I was not designed to cope with a lifeform which can lase."
Evan considered this while he watched the hedge begin to repair itself.
He wasn't overly concerned. The suit had suffered some damage, that was all.
"How long will it take you to fix the trouble?"
"It is true that I am self-repairing, but only to a degree. Even I have
limits." A pause. "It appears on introspection that the damage extends to
internal functions more complex than motor drives. I am attempting to isolate
the fire-"
"Fire?" Evan's eyes widened slightly.
"-and prevent its spread to more sensitive components. It is not easy.
Integration precludes much isolation without compounding-"
"How long will at take you to fix it?" He was growing warmer.
"You do not understand the extent of the damage, sir. It is not as if
something broke. I carry ample spares for replacement where required. But
entire integrated blocks have been vaporized, along with their connections.
The cooling unit has also been affected and this compounds the problem."
So I'm not the only one who's sweating, Evan thought anxiously.
"I am sorry that I have not been able to live up to my designers'
expectations, but they could not have anticipated, a n t i c i p a t e d, a n
t i c i ..."
As he sat in his seat the voice of the MHW, the strong, reassuring voice
that had comforted him from the moment he'd stepped out of the ship high in
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orbit above Prism, the voice of knowledge and infinite resourcefulness, the
voice of Commonwealth technology, died.
"We have to find a place where you can shut down nonessential functions
while you repair yourself. That means we have to move." The faint siren call
of the beacon was forgotten now. Everything else was forgotten. He tried to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]