Чужой
VII
’Well,itisn’t.Trythenextone.Iknowtheyalllookokay,exceptforthatnumberforty-three,andwe’vealreadyreplacedthat.That’sthetroublewiththesedamnparticlecells.Iftheregulatoroverloadsandburnssomeofthemout,youhavetogoinsideandfindtheonesthathavevacuum-failed.’Hepaused,added,’Wishwehadatracer.’
’Youandmeboth.’Softsoundsofmetalscratchingonplasticsoundedfrominsidetheunit.
’It’sgottobethenextone.’Parkertriedtosoundoptimistic.’Wedon’thavetohand-checkeverysinglecell.Mothernarroweditdownthisfar.Bethankfulforsmallfavors.’
’It’sgottobethenextone.’Parkertriedtosoundoptimistic.’Wedon’thavetohand-checkeverysinglecell.Mothernarroweditdownthisfar.Bethankfulforsmallfavors.’
’I’llbethankful,’Brettresponded.’I’llbethankfulwhenwe’reoffthisrockandbackinhypersleep.’
’StopthinkingaboutKane.’Hetouchedthetwobuttons,cursedsilently.’Anotherblank.Trythenextone,Brett.’
’Right.’Hemovedtodoso,replacedthecellhe’djustcheckedinitsproperplace.Parkeradjustedseveraloverheadtoggles.Maybetheycouldnarrowdowntheinjuredlinealittlefarther.Twelvemodulecontainedonehundredofthetinyparticleaccelerationcellchambers.Thethoughtofmanuallycheckingeveryoneofthemtofindasingleonethathadfailedmadehimmorethanreadytobreakthings.
Atpreciselythewrongmoment,avoicecalledfromanearby’comspeaker.
