Silent Running Read Online Free Page B

been a requiem for the domes that were marked for destruction.
    Back at Dome Six, the men continued to search for the tubes. Keenan kicked at a clump of gooseberry bushes. Wolf clambered wildly through clump after clump of ferns. Barker leaped over a rock to slip on the wet turf and land on his left arm.
    “Ow, my hand!” He raised his right hand dripping with blood.
    “Hey, you all right?” Wolf asked.
    “You better get Lowell to fix that for you,” Keenan advised.
    “Yeah . . . well . . . you and Wolf find the tubes and wait till I get back.”
    Barker set off down the ramp to the tunnel, then on toward the kitchen, expecting to find Lowell there.
    But Lowell still lay on his cot, and still stared straight ahead.
    Barker came to his door and stood holding his injured hand. Blood dripped on the corridor floor.
    “Will you help me . . . ?” he managed.
    “Oh, yeah . . .” Lowell did not turn his head.
    “What’re you doing?” Barker asked.
    A moment passed. “Nothing,” Lowell said flatly. Finally he rose to lead the way into surgery, motioning Barker to sit up on the table.
    Cleaning the wound in blank-faced silence, Lowell then said, “You did this on a hawthorn, didn’t you?”
    “Yeah, if you say so. You know me and bushes.”
    Lowell applied a bandage.
    All at once an announcement came over the P.A. system:
    “ ‘VALLEY FORGE’ . . . ‘VALLEY FORGE’ . . . SAFE DISTANCING MANEUVER IN FIVE MINUTES. ‘VALLEY FORGE’ . . . ‘VALLEY FORGE’ . . . PLEASE STAND BY FOR 1000 HOURS SAFE DISTANCING MANEUVER IN FIVE MINUTES.”
    Barker turned to Lowell. “I’m going to need your help for that, Lowell.”
    “Oh . . .” Lowell said in a low voice, then added, “Okay . . . okay.” He finished up with Barker’s arm. “There you go . . .”
    Barker climbed off the table and led the way to the next room. Entering Main Control, he sat down in the center chair and began to punch controls.
    Glancing up, he motioned Lowell into a chair on his right. Lowell sat down. Barker said: “Set GYRO to double four . . . 0 . . . six.
    Lowell did not move.
    “Set GYRO to double four . . . 0 . . . six.” Barker’s voice said sharply.
    A sharp whirring noise penetrated Main Control.
    Again came the P.A. and the voice of Berkshire’s commander, Neal:
    “ ‘VALLEY FORGE.’ . . . THIS IS ‘BERKSHIRE.’ . . . YOU THERE, MARTY?”
    “Okay.”
    Neal’s voice continued:
    “WE’RE COUNTING NOW FOR YOUR DOUBLE FOUR . . . 0 . . . SIX DISTANCING ABOUT TWENTY SECONDS.”
    Barker repeated: “Set for distancing.”
    Lowell sat on in his right-hand console chair. Things seemed unreal around him. It seemed as if this was a mad dream.
    Suddenly Neal’s voice began counting:
    “OKAY . . . EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX, FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE . . . THAT’S A GO . . .”
    Neal’s voice ended on the upbeat, with an air of accomplishment, while a low booming explosion reverberated through the deathly stillness.
    Barker said, “Our ship will pull away.”
    Lowell did not reply.
    They sat watching console and main status display. Suddenly a series of interconnected display lights glowed brightly and they heard a distant engine sound. It lasted only about three seconds, then cut off and the display lights winked out.
    Neal’s voice came again:
    “THANKS, MARTY . . . WE’RE CLEAR, STAND BY FOR UPDATES.”
    Barker punched a switch and got up. Ignoring Lowell, he walked out of the room. Within Lowell the slow dirgelike sound pulsed on.
    Back in the forest, Wolf had pushed tall grass and ferns back with his boot, exposing a short, eight-inch round, hydrantlike insertion tube protruding from the ground.
    Barker came over with the silvery metal case and opened it. Inside, bedded in black packing, lay four gleaming, explosive squibs. Wolf gave a low whistle.
    Barker removed one of the squibs, armed it with a twist of the wrist, opened the breech lock on the insertion tube and dropped in the squib.
    There followed a long, drawn out sigh