|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
psychotic when it wasn't file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/E....iam%20B.%20%20Ellern%20-%20New% 20Lensman.txt (21 of 80) [10/15/2004 2:31:40 PM] ----------------------- Page 22----------------------- file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/E.%20E.%20Doc%20Smith%20-%20William% 20B.%20%20Ellern%20-%20New%20Lensman.txt 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.' Page 64 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html 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. Larry told Pamela to stand guard again and he tried the visiphone. Hanovich's secretary told him that Hanovich was on his way with a squad of men. Five minutes later the elevator doors again opened. This time it was Hanovich and a group of security men with drawn guns and gas masks. 'We've blocked all the elevator exits!' Hanovich announced gleefully when he saw Lt. McQueen. 'If they're in the Sanctuary, we've got them trapped there!' 'Any idea on how to get them out?' Larry asked. Hanovich hesitated for a long time. 'Ah, well, ah ...' he said, trying to think of something. The visiphone buzzed, saving him further embarrassment. Larry answered. It was Hanovich's secretary Page 65 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html and she wanted him. 'Right after you left, the surveillance team captain called and reported that all of the suspects have gone to the Hospital,' she said. 'I'll switch you over to Inspector Burbee.' 'Where are they now?' Hanovich asked, as the Inspector's face appeared on the plate. 'They took an elevator down to the Sanctuary,' Inspector Burbee answered. 'A big spy-ray block has been put up down there and we can't see what they're doing.' 'When did they leave for the Hospital?' 'About 10 minutes ago. I tried to call you when I had determined where they were all headed but you'd just left.' 'Were there any new people in the group that went down into the Sanctuary?' Larry interrupted. 'Yes, one.' 'Who?' 'Mr. Johnstone, Director of Copernicus Control.' Larry heard a little gasp from behind him and turned to find Pamela looking very pale and frightened. 'Oh, no,' she said, and then was crying on his shoulder. Behind him Larry heard the conversation continue. 'What kind of weapons do they have down there?' 'No idea. By the time we realized that they were headed toward The Sanctuary, they had their spy- ray block up. They didn't take much with them but there's no telling what they've already got down there.' There was a long pause while Inspector Burbee turned and was conferring with someone else. Then he continued. 'You can't go down there now. They've released the foam that was to seal off the Sanctuary from the Dome after the evacuation. The elevator shafts are filling up with it.' Page 66 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/E....iam%20B.%20%20Ellern%20-%20New% 20Lensman.txt (22 of 80) [10/15/2004 2:31:40 PM] ----------------------- Page 23----------------------- file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/E.%20E.%20Doc%20Smith%20-%20William% 20B.%20%20Ellern%20-%20New%20Lensman.txt Hanovich swore. 'I'll call the Mayor and find out who can remove it.' A moment later he explained the situation to Mayor Love. Mayor Love said he would have someone call back in a few minutes. Rog Philips called back. In typical political fashion, the Mayor had appointed him Acting Director of Facilities, and then dumped the problem on him. Hanovich again explained the situation. Rog thought a moment and then said, 'The V-2 gas is the first problem. The atmospheric contamination detectors closed off the ventilation system on your floor in time to limit the spread of the gas, but they've also closed every air-tight door in the area. Evacuate everyone from that floor. V-2 is soluble in water, so don't worry about the spread of the stuff out of the elevators. The air conditioning equipment on the other floors of the hospital will take care of the little bit you carry in the elevator cage. Just don't let anyone stand close to the cage door when it opens. The top floor there is the quarantine ward, so when you get everyone out, we'll blow the atmosphere out the vents to the surface. Then we'll go after the elevator shafts. When we melt the foam out of the shafts, the fumes can be released through the sixth floor, too.' 'How can we evacuate if the shafts are blocked with foam?' 'I doubt if there's any foam up here,' Rog answered. 'In the first place it shouldn't come up this Page 67 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html high, and in the second place, at least one elevator should be on one of the lower floors of the hospital.' 'How long before a shaft is clear down to the Sanctuary?' 'At least a day. It depends on whether the solvent and equipment to remove the foam is available or whether we have to bring it in from Tellus.' 'We've got to get down to the Sanctuary as soon as possible. This job has top priority!' Hanovich said. 'Yeh,' Rog said, obviously unimpressed, and cleared his plate. Hanovich was clearly taken aback by the curt dismissal. It was with a visible effort that he turned to Larry and touched him on the shoulder. 'You better take her home. Nothing's going to happen here for a while.' 'I'll drop into your office later,' Larry said. 'You might try to trace these.' Larry handed him the guns he and Pamela had used and the magnetic identification card he had found on the head gunman. Then they left. CHAPTER SIX A 'CLUB' WORTH JOINING Rog was as pleased as a hungry cat with a piece of chicken. The people in the Facilities Division had responded to him as though they had been let out of a dark prison cell. With any kind of luck, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
Podobne
|