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second-in-command, General Natia, joined him.
"You've had the standard first aid course, General," Pere said. 'Bandage this
man and then report to me."
"Yes, sir," General Natia said, her voice echoing that same note of fear.
Damn all, Pere thought, she should know that's no way for a general to act. We
can't let the troops know we're afraid-even if we are. He made no allowance
for the fact that General Natia was a woman, and just eighteen.
Once his staff had been attended to he turned his mind to the problems at
hand. Some of the tension eased as he sorted out all the factors. Problem
solving was his speciality, and he had been selected for it before birth. Gene
analysis had chosen the best DNA chain from his parents' sperm-and-ovum bank.
This, and subsequent training, had fitted him perfectly for command. With the
instantaneous reflexes of youth, he was a formidable opponent on the
battlefield and looked forward to a successful career of at least four or five
years before retirement.
For a man who would soon be directing a global conflict this problem was
childishly simple.
"Communications?" he snapped, and pointed his finger at the Signal Corps
Major. There was an automatic authority in his voice now, in marked contrast
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to his boyish crewcut and freckles.
"None, sir," the officer said, saluting. "Whatever blocked the tunnel knocked
out the land lines as well. I've tried with the field phone but the wires are
dead."
"Does anyone know how far we are from HQ?" he asked, raising his voice so that
all the officers in the car could hear him.
"I'll have it... in a second, sir," one of them said, a grey haired colonel
from Computor Corps. He was moving the scale on his pocket slide rule,
blinking intently in the light of his flash. "Don't know how long this tunnel
is - or the exact location of HQ. But I have made the run before, and the
total elapsed time is usually a few minutes over three hours. Figuring the
time to the accident, our speed, allowing for deceleration His voice trailed
off into a mumble and Pere waited impatiently, but unmoving. He needed this
information before he could make his next move.
"Between forty and sixty miles to HQ, sir. And those are the outside figures,
I'd say it's very close to fifty..."
"That's good enough. I want two volunteers, you and you. Get up in the nose
there and see if you can't dig a hole through that rubble. We're going to try
to get through and continue on foot. We'll be needed at HQ if the Enemy is
able to hit this close."
This last was added for the sake of his staff's moral; the training courses
had recommended the human touch whenever possible. Particularly in unusual
situations. And this was an unusual, though not very promising way for his
first command to begin. He scowled unhappily into the darkness. It took an
effort to keep his feelings from his voice as he issued orders to assemble the
food stores and water. When this was done he sent his adjutant to relive the
two men who were digging into the dirt barricade. One robot was worth ten men
- not to say two - at this kind of labor.
It took almost twelve hours to penetrate the barrier, and they were all
completely exhausted before it was through. The adjutant did all the digging,
and they rotated shifts in carrying away the rubble that he cleared. There had
been some minor falls of dirt and rock that in their haste they ignored, until
a major fall at the work face had completely buried the robot. They dug until
they reached its feet and Pere had lengths of the now useless tunnel signal
wire tied around the robot's ankles. It wasn't until they had added loops of
wire so that they could all pull together that the adjutant had been dragged
from his near grave. After that work slowed, since they had to unbolt the
chairs from the car and use them to shore up the roof. All things considered,
twelve hours was good time for penetration of the barrier.
Once they were through General Pere allowed them a half-hour break. They
sipped at their water bottles and collapsed wearily on both sides of the
central track. Pride and position would not allow Pere to rest; he paced ahead [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]