The Lasser Building was a steel structure, shelled over with a bright
blue anodized aluminum sheath. Only the day before, Houston, wearing the
gray coverall of a power-line workman, had checked the wall to find the
big steel beams beneath the aluminum. He had also installed certain
other equipment; now he was going to make use of it.
Concealed in the louvres of the air-conditioner intake of the lower
building was a specially constructed suit and several hundred feet of
power line which was connected to the main line of the building.
In the darkness, Houston slipped on the suit. It was constructed
somewhat like a light diving suit or a spacesuit, but without the
helmet. In the toes, knees, and hands, were powerful electromagnets
controlled by switches in the fingers of the gloves and powered by the
current in the long line.
Houston stepped over to the blue aluminum wall, reached out a hand, and
lowered one finger. Instantly, the powerful magnet anchored his hand to
the wall, held by the dense magnetic field to the steel beam beneath the
aluminum sheath. That one magnet alone could support his full body
weight, and he had six magnets to work with.
Slowly, carefully, David Houston began to crawl up the wall.
Turn on a magnet in the right hand; lift up the left hand and anchor it
higher; turn on the right hand and lift it even with the left, then
anchor it again; do the same with both legs; then begin the process all
over again, turning the magnets off and on in rotation.
Up and up he went. Past the forty-sixth floor, past the forty-seventh,
the forty-eighth, and the forty-ninth. Not until he reached the fiftieth
floor did he attempt to open one of the windows.
There was a magnetic lock inside the window, but Houston had taken that,
too, into account. The powerful magnet in his right glove slid it aside
easily. Houston lifted the window and stepped inside.
He had ten more floors to go.
He took off the suit and rolled it up into a tight package, then dropped
it out the window. It landed with a barely audible thump. Houston took a
deep breath, drew his stun gun, and headed for the stairway.
* * * * *
On the landing of the sixtieth floor of the Lasser Building, David
Houston paused for a moment.
"Sounds like you're out of breath," said the voice in his ear.
"You try climbing all that way sometime," Houston whispered. "I'm no
superman, you know."
"Shucks," said the voice, "you've disillusioned me. What now?"
"I'm going to try to get a little information," Houston told him. "Hold
on."
On the other side of the door, he could hear faint sound, as if someone
were moving around, but he could hear no voices.
Carefully, he sent out a probing thought, trying to see if he could
attune his mind with that of someone inside without betraying himself.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account