<meta name="LineWrap" content="true"><TITLE>SR_Bk1 0159</TITLE><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0160.txt">Next (Page 160)</A><BR> Look at that waterfall."<P><P>"Yeah--just imagine seeing the flashing lights and hearing the sirens of all those Warhomes just before that boat comes flying across the bay--I mean--the whole thing's gonna happen so fast."<P><P>"Yeah."<P><P>"Oh, I almost forgot," Ferrajalt said, taking his gun out of its holster. "Gotta call back to the base. Let Ledrant know what we've found."<P><P>"Yeah--what's the deal with that thing anyway? Why don't we all have one?"<P><P>"Extremely limited battery life. But they're working on it. You think it's easy to generate a kemig signal in such a small object as a gun?"<P><P>Treyess smiled and nodded as Ferrajalt punched a few buttons and then looked into the screen at the base of the hilt. After a few muted ringing noises, the tiny image of Injure Bodoni faded in.<P><P>"Ferrajalt? Is that you?"<P><P>"Yes Injure, it's me."<P><P>"How far have you gotten down the river?"<P><P>Ferrajalt took a deep breath.<P><P>"Look Injure--could you please get Ledrant? I don't want to say all this twice--you know more than me about the battery life of these things."<P><P>"Well--Ledrant is indisposed at the moment but I will relate all the information you give me."<P><P>"Fine! Fine! Okay--we're on top of Office Complex at Gumhanshire--right on top of it. We flew over on that plane we told you about. The lights are on in the building, but we haven't seen any signs of people yet."<P><P>"Does that matter?" Injure asked, rubbing his nose.<P><P>"What do you mean does that matter--of course it matters! We can't just kill people!"<P><P>"Oh," Injure said dumbly.<P><P>"So just tell Ledrant that we're gonna check for people, and then head back--and tell him to go over to that yard and get some more Warhomes--the giant police cars--they're pretty easy to drive, no problem."<P><P>"Okay, Ferrajalt. I'll tell him all that."<P><P>"Okay thanks," Ferrajalt said tersely as he cut off the connection.<P><P>"That guy is a real dick," Treyess said.<P><P>"You're telling me."<P><P>The two stood, several yards apart, staring at each other. Finally Treyess spoke.<P><P>"So now that we're here on the roof, what are we supposed to do?"<P><P>Ferrajalt thought for a moment, then looked over to the vector display on the biplane control panel. On the screen was a 3-D representation of the building, with two bright yellow dots where he and Treyess were.<P><P>"Maybe that's our answer," he said. "Looks like that sucker can detect people."<P><P>"Maybe it's just seeing us because we're its owners."<P><P>Ferrajalt regarded Treyess.<P><P>"Maybe. So let's see if we can expand the scope of its scan--maybe it can reach all the way back to Derolbam and see the others."<P><P>"You really think it could reach that far?"<P><P>"If it's in communication with the Warhome, which I assume it is, I think it could give us an overall scan."<P><P>"Give it a shot, my Prince."<P><P>So Ferrajalt leaned over the side of the plane and began to fiddle with some knobs near the screen. At first there was no reaction, but then the scene zoomed out, and there was the faint outline of the bay and the waterfall. In another second, it had zoomed back so far that the Warhome was represented with a dull, green, pulsing square. Finally, it pulled back much further, and there was a cluster of yellow pinpoints in Derolbam, and the two, Treyess and Ferrajalt, there in Doscovor. And there was one more, a solitary light way off to the east.<P><P>"Hmm," the Prince said. "Very impressive. Guess that kills any notion of people being around here. But there IS that one stray point out there. Hmm."<P><P>"Well we can check that out later," Treyess said. "For now I just want to get back to that Warhome and take a nice hot shower and relax a little."<P><P>"Oh yeah?"<P><P>"Yeah--oh, wait a second!" Treyess said as she skipped away a little.<BR><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0160.txt">Next (Page 160)</A>