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.It didn't need a power source in daylight.I pointed ittoward the ships, and the needle gave a little quiver, well below the redsector labeled LEAVE AREA."So? Let's go on in.""Inverse-square law," I said."We'd probably get fried if we got within half aklick." I was guessing, of course; I didn't know anything about secondaryradiation.I thumbed the radio."Marygay, have you asked the ship how long it will beuntil you can disembark?""Just a second." I could hear a vague mumble mixed with the static."It saysfifty-eight minutes.""Okay.We'll meet you there about then." I nodded to Charlie and the sheriff."Might as well get started, and keep an eye on the counter."Going back was a lot easier than coming in had been.We wallowed across aditch and then drove along the level mud that paralleled the broken-up road.We did wait for fifteen minutes at about the two-kilometer mark, watching theneedle quiver less and less.What to do with 90, or 150, people? Food was not a problem, and shelter wasjust a matter of breaking and entering.Water was a problem, though.Page 80ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlThe sheriff suggested the university.It had dormitories, and a river ranthrough the middle of it.There might even be a way to jury-rig electricity, Ithought; I remembered seeing a field full of solar collectors just off campus,and wondering what they were for--teaching, research, or maybe a backup powersupply.Our ambulance had just crawled onto the landing field when the unloading rampon Marygay's ship rolled down.People wobbled down it carefully, tentatively,in groups of five, which was the capacity of the elevator down from the SApods and control room.When she came down in the last group, I let out a held breath and realized howtense I'd been, ever since we'd admitted the possibility that they could havebeen marooned up there.I went halfway up the ramp and took her in my arms.The other two ships were emptying out as well, people milling around theambulance trying on parkas for fit, chattering away with the release oftension and happiness at reunion--it had only been a couple of months,subjective, but that twenty-four years was somehow just as real.Of course everybody knew what we had found, or not found, on the surface, andthey were full of apprehension and questions.I avoided them by taking Marygayoff to "confer." After everybody was on the ground and in warm clothes, I wenthalfway up the ramp and waved both arms for attention."We've decided to set up temporary quarters at the university.So far, thisambulance is ourfile:///D|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Ha.0Forever%20War%2002%20-%20Forever%20Free.txt (81 of 114) [7/12/2004 12:54:35 PM]file:///D|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Haldeman,%20Joe%20-%20Forever%20War%2002%20-%20Forever%20Free.txt only working vehicle; it can take ten or twelvein at a time.Meanwhile, let's all move indoors, out of the wind."We sent the ten biggest, strongest people first, so they could get to work onbreaking into the dormitory rooms, while Charlie and I led the others to thecafeteria where we had found our first planetside meal.They walked silentlyby the eerie piles of old clothing, which had some of the appearance of bodiesfelled by a sudden disaster, like Pompeii.Food, even old boxed fruit, cheered them up.Charlie and I answered questionsabout what we'd found in the city.Alysa Bertram asked when we could start planting.I didn't know anything aboutthat, but a lot of the others did, and there were almost as many opinions aspeople.None of the ones who'd come from Centrus were farmers; the farmersfrom Paxton were unfamiliar with the local conventions.It was obvious,though, that it wouldn't just be a matter of picking up where the previoustenants had left off.Farming around here was specialized andtechnology-intensive.We had to devise ways to break up the soil and get waterto it without using electricity.Lar Po, also no farmer, listened to the arguments and seriously suggested thatour best chance for survival was to find a way back to Paxton, where we'd havea fighting chance of growing enough to feed ourselves.It would be a longwalk, though."There's plenty of time to experiment," I reminded them."We could probablysurvive here for a generation, scavenging and living off the ship rations." Afew weeks on the ship rations, though, would drive anyone to agriculture.Thatwas undoubtedly part of the plan.The sheriff came back with the welcome news that they'd found a dormitory onthe river that didn't even require breaking into.The rooms had electroniclocks, and power failure had opened everything up.I sent Charlie out to start setting up work details.We had to have a watersystem and temporary latrine as soon as possible, and then organize intosearch parties to map out the location of resources in the city.Marygay and I wanted to go downtown, though, to look for two more pieces tothe puzzle.ThePage 81ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlOffice for Interplanetary Communications.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter twenty-threeLike the Law Building, the OIC had been unlocked in the middle of the day.Thesheriff dropped us off and we walked right in--and were startled to findartificial light inside! The building was independent of the city's powergrid, and whatever it used was still working.Direct broadcasts from Earth wouldn't be useful, since it's 88 light-yearsaway.But messages via collapsar jump only took ten months, and there shouldbe a log somewhere.There was also Mizar, only three light-years away.Its Tauran planet Tsogothad a Man colony, and we might hear something from them, or at least callthem, and hear back six years later.It wasn't a matter of just picking up a mike and flipping a switch--if it was,you did have to know which mike and which switch.None of the terse labelswere in English, of course, and Marygay and I didn't know much MF other thanidiomatic conversation.We called the sheriff to come back and translate.First he had to pick up aload of food downtown and ferry it to the dorm; then he'd come by on his wayto the next pickup.file:///D|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Ha.0Forever%20War%2002%20-%20Forever%20Free.txt (82 of 114) [7/12/2004 12:54:35 PM]file:///D|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Haldeman,%20Joe%20-%20Forever%20War%2002%20-%20Forever%20Free.txtWhile we waited, we searched the place pretty thoroughly [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]