Ragnarok: Colonization, intrigue and betrayal. Andrew Claymore (primary phonics books .txt) đ
- Author: Andrew Claymore
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The Naidus were thelast, thanks to Rohanâs back. Terry stepped forward to look up atthe countdown. âNot gonna make it,â he said, sticking his footonto the podâs threshold with the street.
The counter hit zerowhile the Naidus were still ten feet away but the pod remained whereit was. The podâs other five gates sealed but the opening withTerryâs foot didnât close.
It was now filledwith a sheet of orange light that pulsed in time with a blaringalarm. âRemove all livingtissue from the doorway or initiate emergency safety override!â asynthesized voice commanded from a ceiling projector.
Rohan and his familypassed through the orange haze. He gave Terry a nod of thanks as hestood there, gasping.
Terry withdrew his footand the opening snapped shut. Everyone looked around and at eachother. âAre we moving?â one of them asked.
âListen,â anothersaid.
Though there was nosense of motion, there was a sound coming through the walls. Itsounded like a cross between ripping linen and someone whistling asingle note.
âI think⊠thatâsâŠthe air rushing⊠past our capsuleâŠ,â Rohan wheezed.
His wife patted himabsently on the back. Kiara put a hand on his shoulder.
Frank noticed how, inthe crush of colonists, Terry and Kiara had managed to stand shoulderto shoulder but they were acting like they hadnât even noticed eachother.
The nonchalancewas a dead giveaway. He looked down to see they were holding handsbehind her back. Frank wishedhe hadnât looked because that was the moment that their handsparted and Terryâs came to rest on her backside.
Frank looked up againquickly, seeing Kiara lean her head slightly toward Terry. He turnedto Trisha, only to find an amused smile on her face.
She leaned in andwhispered in his ear. âItâs quite crowded in here. I doubt anyonewill catch them.â
Her eyes widenedwhen he let his own hand graze over her bottom. Itwas just his fingertips but slowly enough to make it clear that theywere there on vacation and not just a chance impact. âPleasetell me that was you just now,â she whispered.
âMe what?â heasked innocently,then laughed as she jabbed him in the ribs.
By that time, theyâdreached the bunker and the noise stopped. The sides opened and theyfound themselves in a large room, forty meters in diameter.
Everyone exited thepod.
âHard tobelieve weâre nearly a kilometer under the mountains!â Terrysaid, squintingup at the distant light fixturesoverhead.
âAlright,âMalâs voice boomed, âwehave almost everyone but there are still a little more than thirtycolonists still in Unity. We want to see a better turnout next time.We still have a few minutes before the pods come in from the fieldsbut I see no reason why we shouldnât carry on.
âIf you can allfollow your holo-icons, weâll show you to the shelter.â
âYou mean this isnâtit?â a colonist shouted from the back of the crowd.
âYouâre inthe debarkation chamber,â Mal said, sounding surprised at thequestion. âWe built this place to keep you all alive for severalyears. If a war happened to find its way out here, we might have tolive down here for a long time before rescue comes. Wewouldnât just build a big room filled with bunk-beds...â
Frank could see a greencircle with his name hovering in the air nearby. Trisha had alreadyfound one for her and Vikram. He stepped over to his and it beganmoving once he was within a couple of steps of it.
He stood still and itstopped as well. âI guess we just follow them.â He shrugged andstarted walking.
They passed into anarched tunnel in the cavern wall and it led them out into a spacethat dwarfed the debarkation room.
It was a largeunderground canyon roughly three hundred meters in height withfifteenlevels of walkway along each side. Several walkways on each levelallowed convenient access from one side to the other.
The open space runningdown the middle of the canyon was at least fifteen meters wide wherethe debarkation room emptied into the âshelterâ.
âItâs more like acity than an emergency hideout,â Frank muttered in awe. The pressof the crowd behind him helped him realize that heâd stoppedwalking.
Their icons ledthem to one of the upper levels where Frank, Trisha, Vikram and Terryall found themselves standingin a three-bedroomapartment set back into the rock of the mountain.
It wassurprisingly comfortable, for an emergency shelter, and Vikram wasthe first to voice thatopinion.
âNanites,â Terrysaid. âWe can make as many or as few of the things as we want, sothereâs no limit on what we can do for a shelter like this.â
âThis must be astandard imperial pattern,â Trisha said, running a hand along awall. It was finished in arelief pattern of hexagonal groups, some large hexagons flowed intopatches of smaller ones. âItâsnice enough but it just feelsâŠâ
âAlien?â Franksuggested.
She nodded. âHowdo we prepareâŠâ She nodded again and turned to walk into an openroom with no apparent counter-space.
âWhat isâŠâ Frankgrunted. âA kitchen, as an imperial citizen would know it.â
âThese mattresses areweird!â Vikram bounded out of a door shaped like an elongatedhexagon. âThey look like they grew in some ocean somewhere. Kind ofstiff.â
âHow do they usetheâŠâ Frank grimaced. âHole in the floor?â
âTakes some gettingused to,â Trisha said. âItâs not uncommon back home.â
âI suppose I can giveit a shot,â Frank groused.
âYeah,â Terryguffawed. âLiterally!â
âAyyoh!â Trishaexclaimed, silencing the young man.
âYou know,â Terrysaid, rubbing the back of his neck. âWe could probably get a nanitecohort to put in a toilet. We just need the design specs.â
âIâll makesure we add that to the agenda at the next council meeting,â Franksaid, still trying not to laugh.
âWhy is theshelter built like this?â Vikram asked. âWouldnât it bestronger if it was a sphere?
âAh,â henodded as the answer percolated up from his stored patterns. âIfweâre forced to live down here for a year or more, the chance ofmass-murder and civil unrest is reducedif our habitat has a more natural feel.
âIf you walk out ofthe apartment and can see the entire place, you feel like a prisoner.If some of it is out of sight, around the corner, the subconsciousneed for exploration is less urgent.â
He waggled hisshoulders. âItâs a love-hate thing, as far as this implantedknowledge goes. I feel like I have a ghost inside my head.â
âNot that we havenâtall had
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