[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
But the needles recording the stresses and currents of space around He
continued to fall; those recording the output of Hevian equipment continued to
rise. On May 23rd 4104, both sets of meters rose suddenly to their high ends
and jammed madly against the pegs, and the whole planet rang suddenly with the
awful, tortured roar of spindizzies driven beyond endurance. Miramon's hand
flashed out for the manual master switch so fast that Amalfi could not tell
whether it had been he or the City Fathers that cut the power. Maybe even
Miramon did not know; at least he must have gotten to the cut off button
within a hair of the automatic reaction.
The howl died. Silence. The Survivors looked at each
other. "
"Well," Amalfl said, "we're here, evidently." For some reason, he felt wildly
elated-a wholly irrational reaction, but he did not stop to fnrflyze it.
"So we are," Hazfeton said, his eyes snapping. "Now what the hell happened to
the metering? I can understand the local apparatus going wild-but why did the
imput meters from outside rise instead of dropping back to
zero?"
"Noise, I believe," Retma said. "Noise? How so?"
"It takes power to operate a meter-not a great deal, but it consumes some.
Consequently, the input meters ran as wild as the machines did, because
operating at peak efficiency with no incoming signals to register, they picked
up the signals generated by their own functioning."
"I don't like that," Hazleton said. "Do we have any way of finding out on what
level it's safe to run any instrument under these circumstances? I'd like to
see generation curves on the effect so we can make such a calculation-but
there's not much point in consulting the records if we just burn out the
machine in the process."
Amalfi picked up the only instrument on the Hevian board that was "his"-the
microphone to the City Fathers. "Are you still alive down there?" he said.
"YES, MR. MAYOR," the answer came promptly. Miramon looked startled; since
everything of which he had any knowledge had gone dead, even the lights-they
were sitting bathed only in the barely ascertainable glow of the zodiacal
light, that belt of tenuous ionized gas in He's atmosphere brought to life by
He's magnetic field, plus the even dimmer glow of the few nearby galaxies- the
sudden voice of the speakers must have alarmed him. "Good. What are you
operating on?" "WET CELLS IN SERIES AT TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED VOLTS." "All of
you?" "YES, MR. MAYOR."
Amalfi grinned in the virtual darkness. "All right, apply your efficency
figures to a set of standard instrumental situations." "DONE."
"Give me an operating level for Mr. Miramon's line down to you, allowing for
pilot lights on his board so he can see his settings."
"MR. MAYOR, THAT IS NOT NECESSARY. WE
HAVE ALREADY RESET THE MASTER CUTOUT AT THE NECESSARY BLOWPOINT LEVEL. WE CAN
RE-ACTUATE ALL THE CIRCUITS AT ONCE."
"No, don't do that, we don't want the spindizzies back on too-"
"THE SPINDIZZIES ARE OFF," the City Fathers said, with austere simplicity.
"Well, Miramon? Do you trust them? Or would you rather have them tie in to you
first and print their data for you, so you can turn the planet back on
piecemeal?"
He heard Miramon draw in his breath slightly to answer, but he was never to
know what that answer would have been; for at the same moment, Miramon's whole
board came alive at once.
"Hey!" Amalfi squalled. "Wait for orders down there, dammit!"
"STANDING ORDERS, MR. MAYOR. AFTER COUNTDOWN BEGINS WE ARE TO ACT AT THE FIRST
SIGN OF OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE. COUNTDOWN BEGAN TWELVE HUNDRED SECONDS AGO, AND
SEVEN SECONDS AGO OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE BECAME STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT."
"What do they mean?" Miramon said, trying to read every instrument on his
board at once. "I thought I understood your language, Mayor Amalfi, but-"
"The City Fathers don't speak Okie, they speak Machine," Amalfi said grimly.
"What they mean is that the Web of Hercules-if that's who it is-is coming in
on us. And coming in on us fast."
With a single, circumscribed flip of his closed fingers, Miramon turned off
the lights. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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But the needles recording the stresses and currents of space around He
continued to fall; those recording the output of Hevian equipment continued to
rise. On May 23rd 4104, both sets of meters rose suddenly to their high ends
and jammed madly against the pegs, and the whole planet rang suddenly with the
awful, tortured roar of spindizzies driven beyond endurance. Miramon's hand
flashed out for the manual master switch so fast that Amalfi could not tell
whether it had been he or the City Fathers that cut the power. Maybe even
Miramon did not know; at least he must have gotten to the cut off button
within a hair of the automatic reaction.
The howl died. Silence. The Survivors looked at each
other. "
"Well," Amalfl said, "we're here, evidently." For some reason, he felt wildly
elated-a wholly irrational reaction, but he did not stop to fnrflyze it.
"So we are," Hazfeton said, his eyes snapping. "Now what the hell happened to
the metering? I can understand the local apparatus going wild-but why did the
imput meters from outside rise instead of dropping back to
zero?"
"Noise, I believe," Retma said. "Noise? How so?"
"It takes power to operate a meter-not a great deal, but it consumes some.
Consequently, the input meters ran as wild as the machines did, because
operating at peak efficiency with no incoming signals to register, they picked
up the signals generated by their own functioning."
"I don't like that," Hazleton said. "Do we have any way of finding out on what
level it's safe to run any instrument under these circumstances? I'd like to
see generation curves on the effect so we can make such a calculation-but
there's not much point in consulting the records if we just burn out the
machine in the process."
Amalfi picked up the only instrument on the Hevian board that was "his"-the
microphone to the City Fathers. "Are you still alive down there?" he said.
"YES, MR. MAYOR," the answer came promptly. Miramon looked startled; since
everything of which he had any knowledge had gone dead, even the lights-they
were sitting bathed only in the barely ascertainable glow of the zodiacal
light, that belt of tenuous ionized gas in He's atmosphere brought to life by
He's magnetic field, plus the even dimmer glow of the few nearby galaxies- the
sudden voice of the speakers must have alarmed him. "Good. What are you
operating on?" "WET CELLS IN SERIES AT TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED VOLTS." "All of
you?" "YES, MR. MAYOR."
Amalfi grinned in the virtual darkness. "All right, apply your efficency
figures to a set of standard instrumental situations." "DONE."
"Give me an operating level for Mr. Miramon's line down to you, allowing for
pilot lights on his board so he can see his settings."
"MR. MAYOR, THAT IS NOT NECESSARY. WE
HAVE ALREADY RESET THE MASTER CUTOUT AT THE NECESSARY BLOWPOINT LEVEL. WE CAN
RE-ACTUATE ALL THE CIRCUITS AT ONCE."
"No, don't do that, we don't want the spindizzies back on too-"
"THE SPINDIZZIES ARE OFF," the City Fathers said, with austere simplicity.
"Well, Miramon? Do you trust them? Or would you rather have them tie in to you
first and print their data for you, so you can turn the planet back on
piecemeal?"
He heard Miramon draw in his breath slightly to answer, but he was never to
know what that answer would have been; for at the same moment, Miramon's whole
board came alive at once.
"Hey!" Amalfi squalled. "Wait for orders down there, dammit!"
"STANDING ORDERS, MR. MAYOR. AFTER COUNTDOWN BEGINS WE ARE TO ACT AT THE FIRST
SIGN OF OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE. COUNTDOWN BEGAN TWELVE HUNDRED SECONDS AGO, AND
SEVEN SECONDS AGO OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE BECAME STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT."
"What do they mean?" Miramon said, trying to read every instrument on his
board at once. "I thought I understood your language, Mayor Amalfi, but-"
"The City Fathers don't speak Okie, they speak Machine," Amalfi said grimly.
"What they mean is that the Web of Hercules-if that's who it is-is coming in
on us. And coming in on us fast."
With a single, circumscribed flip of his closed fingers, Miramon turned off
the lights. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]