William H. Keith, ]r
and all but dancing on the narrow steel deck of the Battle Center.
"We did it!" Alita cried, gripping Jaime's arms with trembling hands. "We did it!"
"Hector did it," he replied, laughing. "We were just along for the ride!"
Shari collapsed into both of their arms, sobbing uncontrollably, though whether from the excitement or from grief over Jeff Fowler's death, or some gut-wrenching combination of the two, he couldn't tell.
"I knew he could beat the damned clackers!" Alita cried. "I never doubted it!"
'Teah," he said, though he certainly couldn't agree with Alita s assessment. He'd had lots of doubts. "Now we just have to figure out what to do next."
He glanced up at the viewing dome. Outside, fog and roiling clouds had thickened markedly in just the past few minutes, blotting out the sun and sky and even the nearby shore and the ruins beyond.
It was beginning to rain.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Enemy activity in the immediate vicinity appears to have ceased. Evidently, when the 1*1*1 broke off their attack, all remaining hostile machines on the surface were directed to pull back.
An atmospheric disturbance of considerable proportions has settled over the region, evidently the result of both my own high-energy discharges ana the effects of multiple impacts by incoming meteoric projectiles. This is something of what humans refer to as a double-edged sword. The cloud cover and heavy rain, as well as the periodic nearby discharge of lightning, have rendered my long-range passive sensors largely blind. I could penetrate the cloud cover with various active sensors, of course, but that would reveal both my precise position and the fact that I am actively interested in Enemy movements and positions. On the other hand, the storm provides excellent cover for both me and the human refugees gathered here. Enemy space assets that use active scanners to pinpoint my location will of necessity pinpoint their locations for
me.
I am not certain what my Commander has in mind for our next move. Clearly, we cannot remain in this
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area. The Enemy could still drop a small asteroid on this location while I am blinded, and the quicker we lose ourselves somewhere beyond the limits of this ruined city, the better. The storm wiU afford an excellent opportunity for us to elude 1*1*1 surveillance and escape elsewhere. The Question, however, is where?
A planet is a targe place, but it will be impossible to conceal from the Enemy's reconnaissance systems either my activities or the presence of the human refugees for very long.
The rain was coming down in curtains, a torrential downpour that obscured everything more than a few tens of meters away in gray, cold haze. Jaime had told Hector to move in to the shore, and the great Bolo had complied, wallowing forward and swinging left, his immense tracks dredging up clouds of black mud from the harbor bottom. Even with the downpour, Jaime could see the Bolo's track through the water, marked as it was by upwelling mud.
A few moments later, the Bolo had crawled up onto the shore, tracks grinding and crunching through the rubble of the buildings that once had graced the Celeste Harbor waterfront. Jaime had emerged from a hatch on the upper deck, just forward of the Number One turret, and rode there now, his legs inside the open hatch, one hand bracing himself against the Bolo's lurching motion. He ignored the rain drenching his skin and plastering his long hair across his face. It felt, it tasted good.
Like freedom, no matter how temporary that condition turned out to be.
"I am detecting large numbers of humans approaching from various points to the east to north," Hector said, his voice relayed to Jaime through an earplug receiver found in an equipment locker in the Battle Center. "Range to the nearest, twenty-one point three meters.
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