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and waiting for his command. This is what it would be like when he returned to Proamon! His eyes blazed jet-black. He waited for the final few cryogenics tubes to rise and release their occupants. He had waited three thousand years. He could wait a few moments more. The remaining mercenaries stumbled forward out of their tubes, and took their places in the rows of lifeless, death-filled faces. Kane looked down again and was filled with the exquisite feeling of absolute power. His voice echoed through the chill silence. 'The time is at hand! In a few hours, when the Dragonfire is finally mine, we shall be able to leave this worthless planet. But first we must clear out all the humans. I want you to spread terror throughout the Upper Levels, and drive the humans towards the Docking Bays. Drive them onto the spacecraft. I want no one left alive in Iceworld. The terror which will seize the planet of Svartos here today, will soon strike the planet of Proamon, my former home. Then we shall move swiftly throughout the whole of the Twelve Galaxies, and take our revenge for the injustices that have been done to us. Once, I was driven from my home; soon, no one in the Twelve Galaxies shall have a home!' Kane was in total control now, and his final cries rang through the chamber: 'Now go and destroy the humans in Iceworld! The Dragonfire is mine!' The taste of power was sweet and subtle, like a rare, intoxicating fruit. Kane needed no other food. The Space Trading Colony of Iceworld usually had between 1,000 and 1,500 travellers in it at any one time, and there were Docking Bays for up to 500 spacecraft. The travellers would stay two or maybe three days, stocking up on food supplies, repairing their spacecraft, or just relieving the boredom of space travel by relaxing in the Refreshment Bar, Sports Hall, Beauty Salon or Restaurant. Stellar's mother had decided to treat Stellar to a meal in the Restaurant. Well, actually, it wasn't exactly that she wanted to treat the little girl - more, that she wanted to treat herself, after her traumatic experience with the hooligan waitress and a milkshake - and there wasn't much she could do with Stellar apart from take her along. Stellar was quite excited to be eating in a grown-ups' restaurant for the first time, and she couldn't wait to get back home and tell her best friend, Milli-mind. The waiters had brought special child-size knives and forks, because the ordinary ones were too big for Stellar. The waitresses had brought some extra cushions for Stellar to sit on, because the chair was too low for small children. They had even brought extra cushions for Ted, Stellar's teddy bear, so that he could sit next to her and watch. Her mother (now wearing a white, sparkly number fringed with willowy, pink feathers, since the distressing incident with the milkshake) occasionally pointed out famous people as they came and went. That man was the man from Stellar's favourite holovision programme. That man used to be a famous pop vocalist when Stellar's mother was a teenager, and she'd bought all his videos. That woman was a brilliant scientist, and people said she was the kindest person in the Twelve Galaxies. That woman looks a bit like... no... (But Stellar saw that the woman looked a bit, but not exactly, like the woman her father was now living with.) Stellar would have so much to tell Milli-mind when she got back home! McLuhan descended the service shaft with only a couple of strides and immediately spun round with the Cosmolite. The first nervous excitement of starting out on the ANT-hunt had now given way to an alert concentration, with the knowledge that she soon might die. She scanned the darkness of the Ice Passage. It seemed to be clear. She nodded up to Bazin, at the top of the ladder, who quickly scrambled down and joined her. They both looked round in the gloom. Their fingers were tight on the triggers of their Cosmolites, balanced lightly on gyroclamps attached to their shoulder harnesses. 'It could be anywhere,' said Bazin. 'How are we going to see it in this dark?' 'Here, use this.' McLuhan passed a small electronic device to Bazin. 'What is it?' 'It's the signal tracker. Kane said the ANT was marked. Tape the tracker on top of your Cosmolite where you can see it. If this ANT so much as [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |