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others had been calmed considerably by words from Krysty and Mildred. For some
reason they were more inclined to listen to them than to Dean or Jak.
"It's because they look on them as kids, despite the fact they could outfight
most of us," Mac commented.
J.B. stood a little apart from the rest, checking his Uzi, then reloading the
M-4000.
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He beckoned to Ryan, who left Mac and went to join his old friend.
"What is it?"
J.B. took off his glasses and cleaned them, then pushed back his fedora and
scratched at his forehead.
"I'm worried," he said simply.
"About these stupes?" Ryan asked, indicating the raiding party with an incline
of the head.
"Nope. Me. This ankle. If I get left behind, don't worry about me too much.
I'll find a way "
Ryan clasped his friend on the shoulder. "No. We split up with different
objectives, but no one gets left behind. Fireblast, we might even find Doc."
The Armorer allowed himself a wry smile. "You think he's still alive?"
"Wallace wanted him for a reason. He's not likely to have chilled him just
like that," Ryan said, snapping his fingers.
The one-eyed warrior turned his attention back to the main group. Going over
to them, with J.B. close behind, Ryan said, "They're on the run, but not
because of us. There's something else going on here, and we need to find out
what it is."
"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK. Wallace is not the man he was. We sense that he isn't
the same man. How much time has passed since we were joined together?
What has occurred outside in that time? And part of us wants to know why, when
we have this capacity, we spend our time using just a fraction of it to run
this base?"
The amorphous mass of men moved across a landscape of burned-out rubble and
rotting corpses. Doc had discovered that this was how the Moebius MkI spent
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could exist to something so alien to human experience moving across the
logical conclusions of its purpose, simulated in a vista that continued
forever.
And now there was real danger on the outside, and the mechanism was powerless
to do anything about it. It flailed about in its imaginary landscape,
recording and assimilating impressions from the outside, impotent to do
anything except keep the redoubt running& and suddenly realizing its impotence
as it came under attack for the first time in its long life.
Doc, knowing from the assembled data, who was invading the redoubt, tried to
block that knowledge from the rest of the mechanism, to stop it using all he
knew about his companions to defeat them.
"We are dividing. Why does Dr. Tanner wish to leave us?"
WALLACE WAS in his office when Murphy burst in with six armed soldiers behind
him. The Gen was sitting at his desk, calmly reading the regs, as though they
comprised a holy book, which, to him, it was.
"Ah, I was wondering when you would get here," he said calmly, an edge of ice
to his voice.
"You guessed, then?" Murphy asked him, the blue 9 mm Beretta trained on a spot
between the Gen's eyes.
"Oh, I knew that you had plans. Very well, you think that you can usurp the
chain of command? Let's see what you make of these outsiders."
"More than you have. There were some good men mowed down out there,"
Murphy replied.
Wallace gave him a stare to chill his blood. "If you expect me to believe that
you really care about those men, you must think that I'm a bigger stupe than
the outsider scum. You have a wooden heart, and your men will learn the hard
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way."
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Murphy ground his teeth, repressing the urge to rant at the Gen, to
pistol-whip him now that he had him at his mercy. Instead he turned to the men
behind him.
"You and you," he snapped, gesturing at two of them. "Guard him. The rest of
you come with me. Spread the word that we're in charge now. Things are going
to be different."
He turned back to Wallace. "I'll deal with you when I've dealt with the
outsiders."
"I wish I had your confidence in you, boy," Wallace said with a sneer as
Murphy left the room.
Murphy's plan was simple position sec men so that he could guide the raiding
party down a certain path, insuring that they could be trapped and chilled
with the minimum of fuss. After all, they had only seen the redoubt once, so
they would have no idea where they were going.
This overconfident reasoning neglected the fact that he had witnessed their
ability to find their way around the base when they had earlier escaped from
his guard.
But Murphy was high on his own sense of victory, and his memory had become
selective.
RYAN AND J.B. HAD SPLIT the forces. The Armorer and Mildred had taken three
men and were to try to locate Doc. Their objective after this, regardless of
result, was to secure the mat-trans unit. Ryan and the others, including
Abner, Mac and the other three ville dwellers, were to try to eliminate Murphy
and
Wallace, and use the plas-ex that they knew to be in the armory to mine the
redoubt and bring it down once and for all.
The combined party made its way down the corridors of the redoubt, headed for
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