Read Online The Phantom in the Deep (Rook's Song) by Chad Huskins - Free Book Online
Authors: Chad Huskins
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questions is either a definitive “Yes” or a resounding “No.” It was the power to focus on these facts, and ignore romanticism, that elevated the Cerebrals.
Contrary to that, the humans often employed lateral thinking, which has to do with solving problems through approaches that are indirect, and quite often non-logical. Gifted lateral thinkers use reasoning that is not immediately obtainable to those that use the step-by-step logic that has so far guaranteed the Cerebrals’ place in the universe at the top.
According to the files the Leader has on pilots/saboteurs assigned to Sidewinder ships, lateral thinking was promoted even more in their type.
All sentient species must have some degree of lateral thinking, or else they can’t get very far in the creative process, but whereas human beings have ample amounts of it (to the point that their hodgepodge imaginations could be deemed almost insane by Cereb standards), the Cerebs have a great dearth of it, which they have always been proud of.
Perhaps that is the reason that, while the Leader clearly spots the obvious tripwire, and the not-so-obvious faux junction box, he misses the true trap.
There are two obvious signs of trappings—a tripwire at the foot of the door and a compact plastic explosive arranged in the usual human style in a steel box mounted on the wall beside the door. The box itself is made to look innocent, like a cable junction box, only EMF scanning (electromagnetic frequency) shows that there is no electrical current moving through any of the cables running into it. A dummy box .
Half floating, half pushing slowly through the vacuum of the cargo bay by gentle thrusters, the Leader and his team close in around the far door. It’s here that they lose their first operative.
Waving to one of his fellows, the Leader floats to one side. He moves to the rear of the cargo hold, gripping his magnetic boots against the wall and aiming his weapon down at the gaping hole they blasted open, covering the entry. The other two commandos join him. While the thermite charge is placed around the door’s hinges, they maintain radio silence—few words need be spoken when so much can be communicated via the linked natural-user interfaces. His scanners automatically analyze every element in the room, from the walls to the lockers, and even to the sheets of paper floating in the vacuum. It analyzes the paper down to its most miniscule elements: 76.57% cellulose, 14.3% cotton, 5.21% resin, 3.92% miscellaneous. Cotton , he thinks. An element only available on his home world by synthesis, yet still nothing like Earth cotton. He recalls the last time he touched real cotton…
He senses it the instant before it happens. They all do. Though their armor is filled with shear-thickening liquid, which allows them to absorb major impacts with less damage and controls the sensational overload they would feel from high-impact ballistics, the exterior of their armor has a special porous attribute, which allows some sensations to come through—like bats with super-hearing, the Cerebs find great value in their hyper sense of touch.
They feel the quick burst of air coming out from the far wall , even manage to analyze it. A nanosecond later, the blast kills the operative by the door. The explosion comes not from the plastic explosive, nor from any tripping of the wire on the floor, but from the lockers to the side. Something—perhaps a motion sensor, a heat sensor, a pressure panel, or all three?—must have detected some change in the environment, igniting an explosive waiting inside the lockers. Those lockers, where all the precious weapon stores were.
The explosion is soundless, except for the vibrations felt inside the Leader’s suit. As he watches his comrade’s body fly apart, and the flu ids of his body dribble out in amorphous globules into the vacuum, he wonders with detached logic, Why would the Phantom do that?
His
Contrary to that, the humans often employed lateral thinking, which has to do with solving problems through approaches that are indirect, and quite often non-logical. Gifted lateral thinkers use reasoning that is not immediately obtainable to those that use the step-by-step logic that has so far guaranteed the Cerebrals’ place in the universe at the top.
According to the files the Leader has on pilots/saboteurs assigned to Sidewinder ships, lateral thinking was promoted even more in their type.
All sentient species must have some degree of lateral thinking, or else they can’t get very far in the creative process, but whereas human beings have ample amounts of it (to the point that their hodgepodge imaginations could be deemed almost insane by Cereb standards), the Cerebs have a great dearth of it, which they have always been proud of.
Perhaps that is the reason that, while the Leader clearly spots the obvious tripwire, and the not-so-obvious faux junction box, he misses the true trap.
There are two obvious signs of trappings—a tripwire at the foot of the door and a compact plastic explosive arranged in the usual human style in a steel box mounted on the wall beside the door. The box itself is made to look innocent, like a cable junction box, only EMF scanning (electromagnetic frequency) shows that there is no electrical current moving through any of the cables running into it. A dummy box .
Half floating, half pushing slowly through the vacuum of the cargo bay by gentle thrusters, the Leader and his team close in around the far door. It’s here that they lose their first operative.
Waving to one of his fellows, the Leader floats to one side. He moves to the rear of the cargo hold, gripping his magnetic boots against the wall and aiming his weapon down at the gaping hole they blasted open, covering the entry. The other two commandos join him. While the thermite charge is placed around the door’s hinges, they maintain radio silence—few words need be spoken when so much can be communicated via the linked natural-user interfaces. His scanners automatically analyze every element in the room, from the walls to the lockers, and even to the sheets of paper floating in the vacuum. It analyzes the paper down to its most miniscule elements: 76.57% cellulose, 14.3% cotton, 5.21% resin, 3.92% miscellaneous. Cotton , he thinks. An element only available on his home world by synthesis, yet still nothing like Earth cotton. He recalls the last time he touched real cotton…
He senses it the instant before it happens. They all do. Though their armor is filled with shear-thickening liquid, which allows them to absorb major impacts with less damage and controls the sensational overload they would feel from high-impact ballistics, the exterior of their armor has a special porous attribute, which allows some sensations to come through—like bats with super-hearing, the Cerebs find great value in their hyper sense of touch.
They feel the quick burst of air coming out from the far wall , even manage to analyze it. A nanosecond later, the blast kills the operative by the door. The explosion comes not from the plastic explosive, nor from any tripping of the wire on the floor, but from the lockers to the side. Something—perhaps a motion sensor, a heat sensor, a pressure panel, or all three?—must have detected some change in the environment, igniting an explosive waiting inside the lockers. Those lockers, where all the precious weapon stores were.
The explosion is soundless, except for the vibrations felt inside the Leader’s suit. As he watches his comrade’s body fly apart, and the flu ids of his body dribble out in amorphous globules into the vacuum, he wonders with detached logic, Why would the Phantom do that?
His
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