James Follett Earthsearch 01 Mindwarp

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becoming uncomfortable. The trio walked across the soft sand to the men. Ewen
and Jenine looked fresh and alert, fully recovered from their ordeal of the
previous day. In addition to their crisp new uniforms, they were wearing
broad-brimmed sun hats that Simo insisted they keep on.
The divers came to attention and saluted the new arrivals.
"We think we've recovered everything, crewmen," said the leader
respectfully.
"These will be the ones to answer that," said Simo, inviting Ewen and
Jenine to examine the wreckage piled on the back of the truck.
They looked at the shredded remnants of the two passenger baskets and the
blackened, now bottomless shell of the fire basket, and odd lengths of the
unpicked rope that they taken from the restaurant.
"Everything except the envelope," Jenine commented.
"That was recovered yesterday," said Simo. "Most of it was washed ashore.
"Why bother?" Ewen asked.
"It's for the museum, of course."
"What museum?"
Simo's broad, loose shoulders sagged with his expression. "Now you're
pumping me for information again. Well, I'm allowed to answer questions on
everything you see, so I don't suppose there's any harm in telling you. We
save everything to do with the escape of all crewmen. We've learned to respect
history even when we're living in it. This is the first escape ever from the
islands by hot air balloon."
Ewen looked sharply at him. "So how did you escape?"
Simo's mobile face adopted an expression of embarrassment. "I got out of
the cave by climbing up the cliff - I'm a bit of an acrobat. Not being clever
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like you, I got away from the island by the same method that all escapers from
the islands have used. I built a boat."
"But all the wood we found was water-logged," Ewen protested. "Did you
have a saw to cut down trees?"
"The reeds," said Simo apologetically. "They grow on all the islands.
They can be cut easily with a piece of flint or just uprooted. They're very
buoyant once they've been dried, and they can be lashed together with vines,
and a sail can be made from-"
"Reeds?" Jenine interrupted.
"The tall, slender plants that grow around fresh water pools-"
Simo broke off as Jenine suddenly burst out laughing. The divers gave her
puzzled looks as they went about their work.
"The reeds!" Ewen muttered, thunderstruck. "We used them for the launch
scaffold and sunshades. I never thought... I just didn't think..."
"His lateral thinking!" Jenine gasped, wiping her eyes. "Reeds! Well
here's some more lateral thinking: he may have been the first to think of
using a hot air balloon, but looked at another way, he was also the first not
to think of the obvious!"
"Why should we have to think of escaping? Why all the charade, not to
mention the danger to us?" Ewen demanded indignantly. "Why don't you rescue
people?"
"More questions that I'm not allowed to answer," Simo replied sadly. "But
they will be answered soon."
They returned to the ground-car and drove along the coast road. They
passed lines of parked cars. On the beach the hard, black shadows of the beach
shades obscured the people lying under them. Children played and splashed in
the surf. All wore broad sun hats and kept their bodies covered with thin
bodysuits.
"Families from Challenger City," Simo explained. "Engineers, designers.
This is a popular vacation spot. People only come out in the morning and
evening, of course."
"Too hot?" Jenine suggested.
"Dangerously so."
The turned inland and drove along a broad avenue. A few couples were
drifting aimlessly from shop to shop. Some sat at bars under sunshades. There
was an air of desolation and decay about the place. The sidewalks were
pot-holed and uneven. The state of the road was not much better. Such neglect
would never be tolerated in Arama.
"Where are we going?" Ewen asked. They had driven through the township
and joined a hot, dusty highway. Simo flipped over to auto and took his hands
off the controls.
"Challenger City. The project director wants to meet you."
"What's he like?"
"The greatest man that ever lived."
Ewen looked sideways at their host, but Simo was serious. As though
heading off further questions, he fished Ewen's radio capsule from a pocket [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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