Read Online This Old Rock by G. David Nordley - Free Book Online Page A

comes to that. You must do what you can to prevent the impact. I
must do everything I can to make you do that. I have no choice in this. I hope
you understand this. I am sorry.”
    He heard his little speech on the radio as he said it; a
distracting echo, but it proved his system worked. Unless they had managed to
deploy a very sophisticated surveillance system on very short notice, they
should think he was at the campsite on the shore of the lake; he’d left a
heater on there, and the radio would be coming from there.
    “David, this is Liz. I’m coming to get you. We’ve figured
out a way to divert the planetoid; a huge mesh net is on its way from Canning.
It will probably work, but if the planetoid breaks up in the net, some of it
may get through. It’s too dangerous to stay on the surface of Martin.”
    David’s heart beat rapidly. There was hope. Then he thought
again. What proof did he have that anything was actually being done? They’d cut
him off from the net. She could be lying. Why not? She would do anything to
save her damn project.
    “Liz,” he said. “That sounds very hopeful. Thank you for
making the effort, if it is true. But I must take the risk that it is not true,
or I give up all my leverage. Please go back and get me after the impact is
diverted.”
    “David, you might be dead!”
    “I know this. I have thought this through very carefully. It
is my choice.”
    “David, I am coming to get you. That is my choice.”
    He could think of nothing to say to that. He quickly covered
the distance to the landing site and hid himself in a broken lava tube near the
wrecked shuttle. None too soon; just as he settled in, he heard the sonic boom
of the approaching shuttle, and soon the glow of its engines lit up the
landscape. He watched the bullet-shaped vehicle’s landing gear extend as it set
smoothly down, the hatch side turned mostly toward him.
    David agonized. But he would have to do what he had to do;
he had come too far to waver now. If Liz were lying to him, she had sealed her
own fate as well.
    As soon as the shuttle landed and Liz had popped the hatch,
he opened his comm line. “Liz, my camp is on the shore of the lake, about ten
minutes walk from here, uh, I mean from where your shuttle is coming down.”
    “I see it, David. Please come meet me at the landing site.
We’re doing everything we can.”
    He shook his head automatically, even though she couldn’t
see him. “I cannot take that chance. I am sorry. If you want to talk, come to
the camp. We still have several hours.”
    Liz didn’t answer him. The hatch swung open and she
descended, followed by three black circular robots hovering on their fans. He
could barely see them, but this close he could hear them.
    She strode off toward the camp, her path lit by a helmet
light. The robots, presumably invisible now, followed. He patted a device in
his pocket; he had an answer for those, but now was not the time to reveal it.
    David judged the distance to the shuttle. He didn’t dare use
the infrared to talk now; Liz would pick that up in her helmet and immediately
know what he was doing. Would she suspect? Had she left a guard? The best
strategy would be to approach the shuttle in an unthreatening way. His box with
the bomb was a standard sample box, and should be recognized as such.
    He waited until she was halfway to the camp, then got up and
walked as calmly as he could to the shuttle. He opened the standard infrared
channel for robotic interface and positioned his body so the beam would not
carry to Liz or his own radio relay setup, he hoped.
    “Hello. I’m David Levi. I have some samples to go to the
lab.”
    “Mr. Levi. Please do not enter the shuttle; you are not
authorized. I have notified Captain Avonford of your presence.”
    “David!” Liz screamed. “I thought you were at the camp. What
are you doing at the shuttle?”
    “I changed my mind,” he said, using the radio channel from
his suit. He took two more steps closer to