I can
tell because of the coils over here and the way the circuits are
connected. There are about eight of these; they must be spaced in a row
a little over a mile apart. They can operate singly or in combination.
But look! They don't just power the life-support systems-in fact, I
haven't found that part at all yet. But these are thrust systems! Do
you know what that means? This asteroid is a spacecraft! It's made to
travel!"
"Can't be!" said Joe, flabbergasted
"It is. Look." Mark flipped past a few more files, pointing out the
connections and the diagrams of chambers, coils, and energy field
generators. "I'm just barely getting a glance at this stuff, of course,
and I don't understand it all, but I have no doubt about what I've seen
so far."
"Why don't you look for that life-support file and see if you can turn
off the pirates' energy or something?" Joe suggested.
"No, Joe," said Zip. "As I said before, if it were a good idea, our
hosts would probably have done it already. I think that whatever
they're not doing, we shouldn't try to do. Remember, even St. George
didn't want to fiddle with something he didn't understand."
"George is a real nice guy, Zip," said Joe, "but I still think he's
breathed a little too much vacuum for his own good. You have to
experiment in life, sometimes.
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