Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [193]
“As long as we’re back to my Aquarius in time.” Nikko fidgeted in the cold. “Are we going to sit here and keep talking while our heat reserves run out, or should we get going?”
The trio moved quickly across the dark and uneven landscape. Cesca wished they could have left Nikko aboard his ship to arrange a quick getaway, but they needed all three of them for Purcell’s plan.
Over where the base domes had been, the hulking Klikiss robots moved about assembling the frameworks of their vessels. Long cables tapped into the energy generators, and thick conduits extended from the reactor pile in sloppy tangles. The robots showed no finesse, no inclination to build anything that would last longer than their current needs.
As the three approached the workhorse reactor pile, Cesca could feel the machinery vibrating through her suit. The lights around the shielded facility were bright, and the metal was hot. Around the power plant the ground was uplifted, melted and cracked from a backwash of radiant heat.
The robots remained focused on their work.
Studying the reactor building, Purcell continued his nervous muttering on the line-of-sight channel. “Remember, I was never a genius engineer. I always did what Kotto said, and everything turned out all right.” When they reached the harsh shadows of the shielded structure, he studied the external controls. “I’m not much of an innovator. I couldn’t just rig a solution out of thin air—”
Cesca cut him off. “We’re not asking you to find a solution, Purcell. We want you to screw the reactor up very badly.”
He gave an anxious laugh. “That I can do.”
Cesca and Nikko followed the engineer’s clipped instructions as they pulled flow regulators from the circulating coolant systems. At a different bank, Purcell removed a cover plate and yanked out control rods doped with neutron poisons. Almost immediately, the pile began to run hotter.
Scrap metal from the torn-apart domes lay strewn on the ground; Nikko wedged a bar into the coolant systems and used the leverage to twist the pipes until they snapped. Hissing coolant spilled out onto the ground and froze hard.
Moving fast now, Purcell and Cesca tore the last of the control rods loose, tossing them far away in the low gravity. The robots would never retrieve them in time. “That’s done it!” the engineer shouted. “This reactor is like a runaway ship with a blind pilot in an asteroid belt. We, uh, better get out of here.”
Nikko saw a group of the insectlike automatons scuttling toward the reactor pile. “I think the robots spotted us.”
“We’re done here—let’s go!”
With long bounds in the low gravity, they circled the overheating reactor. The Aquarius lay unseen just on the other side of the crater rim.
As they emerged around the corner of the shielded pile, Purcell careened to an abrupt halt in front of two looming black robots. “How did they get here so fast?” His boots skidded on the slippery, broken ground.
One of the robots reached out to grab the back of Purcell’s suit. The clicking claws touched him only lightly, and the administrative engineer tore himself loose from the black metal grip and lunged after his two companions. They bounded away, each step a giant leap in the low gravity. “Keep going! Get to the Aquarius!” Purcell gasped for breath, and a loud whistling sound came from his suit radio.
Behind them, the throbbing reactor pile was obviously growing hotter. They could even see the glow from metal stressed to its limits. While two Klikiss robots set off after the three saboteurs, other machines converged like diligent ants to work on the reactor systems.
“They’ll never fix it in time,” Nikko said. “Will they, Purcell?” He turned.
The administrative engineer staggered to a halt. “I think...maybe they...it’s just a nick.” He collapsed and fell forward.
Cesca raced back to him. “Purcell, get up. We have to make it to the ship before—” She rolled him over and saw that his faceplate was covered with frost on the inside. Whistling steam bled from the back