Prev | Current Page 258 | Next

Norton, Andre, 1912-2005

"Plague Ship"

Obeying
instructions they seated Hovan in that chair, fastening him in, while the
Medic continued to slumber peacefully. Uncomprehendingly Rip and Dane
stepped back while, under Ali's watchful eye, the Com-tech made
adjustments and finally snapped some hidden switch.
Dane discovered that he dared not watch too closely what followed. Inured
as he thought he was to the tricks of Hyperspace, to acceleration and
anti-gravity, the oscillation of that swinging seat, the weird swaying of
the half-recumbent figure, did things to his sight and to his sense of
balance which seemed perilous in the extreme. But when the groan broke
through the hum of Ali's mysterious machine, all of them knew that the
Engineer-apprentice had found the answer to their problem, that Hovan was
waking.
The Medic was bleary-eyed and inclined to stagger when they freed him.
And for several minutes he seemed unable to grasp either his surroundings
or the train of events which had brought him there.
Long since the Police must have broken into the entrance corridor below.
Perhaps they had by now secured a riser which would bring them up.


Pages:
246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270