Like almost everything else, the power-cartridge plant was airtight
and had its own oxygen-generator. The air-analyzer reported the oxygen
insufficient to support life. That was understandable; there were a
lot of furnaces which had evidently been hot when the power was cut
off; they had burned up the oxygen before cooling. They put on their
oxygen equipment when they got out of the car.
"I'll go back and have a look at the power plant," Matsui said. "If
it's like the rest of this place, it'll be ready to go as soon as the
reactors are started. I wish everybody here had left things like
this."
"Well, we'll have to check everything to make sure nothing was left on
when the main power was cut," Conn said. "Don't do anything back there
till we give you the go-ahead."
Matsui nodded and set off on foot along the broad aisle in the middle.
Conn looked around in the dim light that filtered through the dusty
glass overhead. On either side of the central aisle were two
production lines; between each pair, at intervals, stood massive
machines which evidently fabricated parts for the power cartridges.
Over them, and over the machines directly involved in production,
were receptor aerials, all oriented toward a stubby tower, twenty
feet thick and fifty in height, topped by a hemispherical dome.
"That'll be the control tower for all the machinery in here," he
decided. "Anse, suppose you and I go take a look at it."
"We'll take a look at the machines," Rivas said. "Clyde, you and I can
work back on the right and then come down on the other side. You know
anything about this stuff?"
"Me? Nifflheim, no," Nichols said. "I know a robo-control when I see
one, and I know whether it's set to receive or not."
There was a self-powered lift inside the control tower. Conn and Anse
rode it to the top and got out, Anse snapping on his flashlight. It
was dark in the dome at the top; instead of windows there were
viewscreens all around it. Five men had worked here; at least, there
were four chairs at four intricate control panels, one for each of the
four production lines, and a fifth chair in front of a number of
communication screens. There was a heavy-duty power unit, turned off.
Conn threw the switch. Lights came on inside, and the outside
viewscreens lit.
They were examining the control-panels when Conn's belt radio buzzed.
He plugged it in on his helmet. It was Mohammed Matsui.
"There's one big power plant back here," the engineer said. "Right in
the middle. It only powers what's in front of it. There must be
another one in either wing, for the isotope plant and the
cartridge-case plant. I'll go look at them. But the power's been cut
off from the machines in the main building. There's four big switches,
one for each production line--"
He was interrupted by a shout, almost a shriek, from somewhere. It
sounded like Jerry Rivas. A moment later, Rivas was clamoring:
"Conn! What did you turn on? Turn it off, right away!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account