"What's wrong with these men?" asked one of the miners. "They're
completely unconscious and their arms and legs are swinging around like
they're puppets or something."
"They're just out temporarily, not hurt," answered Joe. "Airbots
disrupt certain neural connections to bring on sleep and complete
relaxation of all muscle functions. I'm not sure how high the airbot's
beam was set, but I'd guess pretty high. They'll probably sleep for
several hours but they'll be fine when they wake up."
"What did you do to that machine that was chasing us?" asked another of
St. George's companions.
"I didn't do anything to it. I don't know what happened to it,"
answered Zip. "I suppose it malfunctioned. Lucky for us." Joe and Mark
both glanced sidelong at Zip, then looked away. The Starmen knew that
whatever had happened to the airbot, a malfunction was not one of the
possibilities.
Another of the miners spoke up. "I've never been on an elevator that
moved horizontally before. Where are we going, George? This transit is
taking longer than just moving between floors."
"The elevators inside this rock can move in just about any direction
except slantindicular. If I remembered accurately, this one'll take us
to a control and information center of some kind. I don't know where it
is in relation to where we started, but we should be safe there and if
I don't forget where we come out, I can always get us back to the
warehouse if we want to return.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122