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.You felt thatat any second you'd pass out, or you'd have to stop and throw up.Ever feellike that?""Yes, a few times.""But you kept going, didn't you?""Yes."Page 118ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"And, for those races, what were the smallest stakes?"Abby thought back."I guess the most trivial was the time Iwas running against three of the fastest boys in high school.Iwasn't actually competing with them in the strict sense, because theyseparated boys and girls for actual competition.But one of the boys hadteased me about being slow.""So you felt like dying but you kept running, whether you won or lost, and theonly thing you stood to lose was your pride.Is that an accurate description?""Actually I did win," Abby said with satisfaction.Matt smiled."I think you also answered your own question.If you did that much for ego, how hard would you fight when the stakes weresurvival--and certain death for the entire world?"Abby was silent for several seconds and then she smiled."You're saying the people who brought us here picked on the wrong folks?""Yeah, I'd say that.What do you think?""I think you're right.If I weren't so angry, I'd almost feel sorry forthem.""Now you're talking." Matt pulled out the periscope and inserted an air hoseand pump.Abby hesitated."But we aren't really invincible.""That's a fact.But we're not going to give up easily.""You know," Abby said, "your wife is a very lucky woman.""I don't know about that," Matt said, but the words were muffled because Abbysuddenly turned and started walking back toward the others.How could she be so stupid to say something like that?Matt's wife was probably already dead, dead with everyone else onEarth, and Abby had to go and say she was lucky.Her brain was mush.Andthen she realized she had just walked away from Matt while they'd been in themiddle of a conversation.What excusecould she offer? She could think of nothing that wouldn't make her soundbrainless.And she couldn't just go back right now, because she had no ideawhat she should say.She hadn't felt this flustered in a long time.She feltlike a dumb teenager all over again as a flush warmed her face.Abby moved past the trailer and found Julie, Bobby Joe, andRichard still watching Rudy.For an instant she expected they would all turnand stare at her for acting so stupid with Matt, but of course they didn't.They hadn't been anywhere close."I think that's got it," Rudy said.He collected several tools, thendeposited them in the trailer.At about the same time, Matt got back."I think we're back in business," Rudy said before anyone else said a word."I'm going to give it a try in a couple of minutes.""Good," Matt said."The ventilator seems to be working fine." As he movedpast Abby to get closer to Rudy, his hardhat light was directed at the backend of the borer, and Abby's body was in darkness.With a gesture guaranteedto be invisible to the others, Matt gently squeezed her shoulder.Abby didn't know what the touch meant, whether it was, "That's okay; we allsay stupid things," or, "I understand; I'm nervous, too," or what, but sherealized almost immediately that she felt better.Much better.Her shouldertingled.At the same time, Matt continued talking."It looks like we're only a fewhundred meters away from the wall, so the borer doesn't have to work for verylong.""Good," Rudy said."That's consistent with the readings."He picked up the borer control and punched a couple of buttons, saying, "Heregoes."The borer moved forward just enough to notice, then stopped.Page 119ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlSeconds later, it moved forward slightly.After a minute of watching it, Rudysaid, "I think it's operational again."Everyone but Richard said a word or two of congratulations and thanks.#When the inertial navigation unit told Matt they were within twenty meters ofthe wall, he warned Rudy to slow down the borer."Okay," Rudy said."You still want to curve so we wind up running parallel tothe wall for the last few meters?""Go for it."From behind him in the tunnel, Matt heard Bobby Joe say something aboutparallel parking."Hey, Bobby Joe.Why don't you do something useful.Whenwe go through this wall, we could be going into a different atmosphere andpressure.Go back about fifty meters and put in another air barrier.""Will do." Bobby Joe grabbed equipment and headed back.Matt held the inertial navigation display where Rudy could see it as hecontrolled the path of the borer.They were approaching the intersection oftwo walls that met at about a135-degree angle.The display showed two lines meeting at a point.Near theintersection, an orange dot with a tail like a comet showed their currentposition and most recent history.Superimposed on the display was a dim grid currently showing one-metersquares.In the upper right corner of the display were their actual coordinatesrelative to the ground-floor lobby of the World TradeCenter, shown in rectangular and polar coordinates.One of the polarcoordinates said they were 48,912 meters from home.One of the rectangularcoordinates said they were 17.4 meters belowwhere the inertial navigation box had been zeroed out.They slowly moved another four meters as the range gradually slowed and theangular displacement crept up in very small increments.The comet-tail imageon the display confirmed that they were curving left toward the wall.Mattlooked behind him and saw Abby, Julie, and Richard walking slowly behind themin the gently curving tunnel.Just before Matt looked forward, Richardstumbled, then caught his balance again.Soon the tunnel straightened out as the borer moved next to the wall, closerand closer to the intersection.Occasionally the borer's whine would increasein pitch as it dragged against the wall.A lighter gray streak at about waistheight on the right wall showed where the borer had scraped against it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]