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.When she felt Bur-Bur was ready, she took out of her pouch a small mechanical device and strapped iton his back like a tiny saddle.Then, putting him down on the ground, she watched him scurry away toperform his assignment.The clever little beast picked his way carefully but quickly down the mountainslope alongside the gate.As they watched, the four d'Alemberts donned the gas masks they'd broughtalong and waited for developments to occur.Bur-Bur reached the ground and, after standing up on his hindmost legs and sniffing the air, dashedrapidly forward inside the gate.Luise waited just a second to make sure he was inside, then pressed abutton on a remote control device at her belt.The box on Bur-Bur's back flew open and emitted thecharacteristic sweet fumes of tirascaline, one of the strongest sleeping gases known to man.It would notaffect the ticklemouse's nervous system at all, but the gas would knock out any human being in a matterof seconds and keep him unconscious for hours.The invasion group didn't even wait for the effects to occur before starting down from their perch.Ittook them all of ten seconds to scramble to the ground, and by that time the two guards were completelyoblivious to the world around them.Luise peered inside the gate just to make sure there were no otherpeople-or robots-around, then began the next phase of the invasion.Taking from her utility pouch the electronically coded plastic card that Marcel had duplicated, sheinserted it into the slot beside the gate.Sure enough, the gate slid open to admit the party and the four ofthem raced inside.Jeanne picked up Bur-Bur, who was standing around after his mission was completed,wondering what to do next.She tucked him into the bosom of her jumpsuit and zipped it up to the top.Reassured that he had performed well, the ticklemouse curled up and went back to sleep in his warm,pleasant surroundings.The first stage of their plan had worked.They were actually inside Rimskor Castle.Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlStage Two, however, would be the harder part.Now that they were inside, time was of the essence.They had no way of knowing whether or not Security Central bad a system of checking with the guardsat the gate every so often.If the head of Rimskor's security system did check them, he'd find themunconscious-at which point, the general alarm would be sounded all over the mountain.Speed, therefore,was the d'Alemberts' watchword.Stun-guns at the ready and set on five, the invaders raced through the underground parking lot towardthe elevator tube that was their destination.Instead of going to the first level, however, which included theballroom and the main hall, they went up to the fourth level.According to Marcel's map, this was a levelof auxiliary bedrooms and guest quarters.It was expected to be practically deserted at this time of nightwith no official functions going on in the castle, so the assault party would not have to worry aboutaccidentally running into anyone who could sound the alarm.Plus, Marcel thought he had seen anentrance to the "forbidden area" on this level.The hallway was dark, but that was only a minor inconvenience.Removing their gas masks, the teamdonned instead sets of infrared goggles and lights, so that they could make their way through thedarkness.The special flashlights gave the entire corridor an eerie glow that accented the highly spartandecor; the place seemed even more bizarre than it did in normal light.The floor was of highly polished metal, but even so the quartet of invaders made no noise at all as theymoved quickly across it.Their special soft-soled sure-grip shoes muffled the sounds of their steps as theyhurried across the floor.Their jumpsuits clung tightly to their bodies and didn't even rustle when theymoved.They dared not make any sound that would alert the fortress's security patrol.They found the desired doorway down the third hallway, right where Marcel had promised it would be.This area was as dark as the rest, and Luise knew she would never be able to work as efficiently aspossible on the alarms while using only the infrared.Therefore, she switched on a small wheatgrain bulbof regular light and took off her goggles.Her comrades fanned out around her, keeping their goggles onand watching for any sign that might indicate the approach of a guard.Taking out a handful of electronic sensors, Luise studied the alarm system built into this door.As Etiennehad indicated, it was a fairly standard system; Duke Fyodor was obviously counting on the fact that itwould be next to impossible for anyone to get this far.But of course, he didn't know about thed'Alemberts.Luise had done a lot of studying in the field of electronics, and bypassing this alarm circuit was almostGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmltoo easy.Once that was done, she picked the lock on the door and turned off her wheatgrain bulb,switching back to the infrared.Slowly she opened the door and led the way into the darkness beyond,with the other three following her.She found herself standing on a narrow staircase leading downward.Her portable sensors scanned thesteps carefully but found no sign of any alarms or pressure-sensitive plates that would alert the castle'sforces to the presence of the intruders.She moved down the stairs as quickly as she could, alwayscautious of the way before her.She estimated she'd gone down two levels before she reached a landingand found a door on her left that would lead into the hidden portion of the castle.A quick check showed that this door was not booby trapped in any way; obviously this far into the innersanctum the Duke was not concerned with oversecurity.He couldn't have his own people inadvertentlysetting off the alarms every time they opened a door.Luise relaxed.Except for one or two speciallycontrolled areas, they wouldn't have to worry about tripping any warning devices.Of course, it was just those specially controlled areas that they had to find; not much would be learnedfrom an area where no secrets were kept.The assault team went through the door and found themselves in a laboratory of some sort.Afterascertaining that the place was empty except for themselves, they searched for and found the light switch.Instantly their eyes were dazzled by the brilliance after so long a period in darkness and the eerie glow ofinfrared, and it was almost a full minute before they were able to see again.The workroom here was small-it was obviously a place for assembling microelectronic circuitry.Thetools on the workbench-microscopes, jeweler's equipment, printboard for microcircuitry-were evidenceof intent.Over to the side of the room, a glass wall separated this room from the next.A set of waldocontrols manipulated a series of intricate devices on the other side.There was a metal slab that remindedLuise of nothing so much as an operating table, but it was bare at the moment, and there was noindication of what had been constructed on it.Luise and her party combed the room quickly and thoroughly.There were a couple of scraps ofnotepaper on the desk top with long formulae and cryptic notations on them.The writing made no senseto Luise, but she slipped them into her pouch anyway; they might be significant to someone else [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]