Quest for the Well of Souls - Jack L. Chalker [99]
"Yes, Ben," came the reply. "How have you been?"
"Obie—how the hell? Are you alone down there?"
"Oh, yes, quite alone," responded the computer. "It's been a long time, Ben. A lot longer for me than for you. I've followed some of your progress through the Well, though. Who wound up on the ship? I can't tell that from here."
Yulin told him, then asked, "Topside—what are the conditions there?"
"You know I have no voluntary circuits Topside," the computer reminded him. "The atmosphere, pressure, and temperature have been maintained, and the electrical system is functioning normally. Beyond that I can't say. I've nothing with which to monitor."
Yulin thought for a moment. The ship was closing on the spaceport airlock as they spoke. "Obie—have you been incommunicado all this time? I mean, if you can talk to me, do you talk to others?"
There was silence at the other end.
"Obie? Did you hear me?"
"I heard you, Ben. We'll talk again when you get here," the computer said.
He tried to raise Obie several more times, but there was only silence. He sat back and thought for a moment. The computer was fully capable of deceit; it was as human as he in many ways. The fact that it had refused to answer his question was in itself an answer. The computer had been talking these past years with someone—and there was only one person who would know how to build the proper receiving equipment.
Dr. Gilgam Zinder, discoverer of the Markovian mathematics and creator of Obie, was still very much alive back on the Well World.
But back there, Yulin told himself confidently. He knew all the Southerners aboard, and Zinder would not have been processed as a Northerner. Zinder could talk with Obie, even consult the great machine, but he couldn't actually operate it, change the programming. Only someone at one of the control panels inside Obie itself could do that, and even if Zinder were there, he did not know about Ben Yulin's innovative circuit design. When he'd used it, he'd stunned Zinder to unconsciousness.
No matter what surprises Zinder and Obie had planned for him, they were in for a nasty shock, Ben Yulin thought confidently.
He watched the console. The ship closed gently. The first of the two locks was damaged; he probably had done that himself in his panic during the flight from New Pompeii, he reflected. The other was fine, though, and the computer headed for it.
A sudden scraping sound forward, and a wrenching jerk as the ship slipped into its berth and straightened itself heralded their safe landing.
They were back on New Pompeii.
He switched the ship to external power, drawing from the New Pompeii power plant. The instruments flickered briefly and it was done. The last step in the chain.
He undid his straps and stood, for the first time realizing the brutality of the takeoff.
Painfully, limping slightly, the minotaur made his way aft to see about his passengers.
New Pompeii
The airlock hissed, then the big amber stand-by light flashed off and the green went on. Ben Yulin threw the levers, pulled open the hatch, and walked to the other side. The proper light was on, so he opened that end as well. A breeze wafted back at them as the slight differences in pressure equalized. The group followed the Dasheen into New Pompeii's spaceport.
To Mavra, despite her distorted, black-and-white vision, it looked very familiar. Renard, too, looked around in wonder at the familiarity of it all. To the others it was new; a plush, luxury lounge.
Yulin was cautious. "Funny," he said. "Looks almost like somebody cleaned up here, doesn't it? I'd expected it to be dirty. The carpet isn't even stained—and I know a lot of shit went on in here just before I left. I don't like this at all."
They took the hint. Wooley and Vistaru drew pistols.
"An odd construction," commented the medium-size Bozog. "I may have some problem getting my two-and-a-half meters through the door."
"I think it's wide enough for you to get through," Renard said.
Yulin, who was unarmed, declined to lead the way. Finally Wooley volunteered. The