"Tom Purdom-Toys" - читать интересную книгу автора (Purdom Tom)

The ventilator had already pulled half the gas out of Beatrice Rice's room. Fracarro pulled the pin on
another gas bomb and Edelman pulled back a sliding panel in the middle of the floor and lowered an
emergency ladder that had been folded into a storage space between the floors. They bumped their
heads together as they bent over the hole and the intercom speaker mounted over the elevator picked up
a giggle.
Fracarro straightened up. She pointed imperiously and Edelman bent over and examined the small
area he could see. The lights had all been turned out and now that the sun had almost set most of the
room was in shadow.
He dropped a bomb through the hole and started down the ladder with his gun drawn. As his head
disappeared below the floor level, Fracarro dropped to one knee.
An immense hand struck his entire body. Fingers pulled on his stomach and his lungs. The blood
drained out of his brain cells. His legs buckled and his fingers slipped off the ladder.
He hit the floor with a bone-bruising thud. His stomach turned over as the gravity dropped back to
normal. He raised his head and stared around the room with eyes that seemed to be covered with a red
mist.
"I warned you," Tim Rice yelled. "Get out of here or I'll give you another dose."
Edelman groaned. His body hurt from the tail bone up. His head ached and he felt nauseated, but he
could still think well enough to remember he had to act as if he hurt worse than he did. "You crazy kid.
You can kill somebody doing that."
"I told you we weren't playing games," the loudspeaker boomed. "We're gonna get a fair deal if we
have to crush every stupid cop on the east coast. Get back up that ladder. Move."
Edelman forced himself up. He held on to the ladder with one hand. He was obviously in the family
exercise room. Fencing foils, jump ropes, and Indian clubs hung on the walls and the control panel for the
gravity changer had been set in the wall next to the elevator.
Alternatives slid across his mind. If he had the power company cut the power off, it probably wouldn't
affect whatever other weapons the kids had and it might set off a panic and put the hostages in worse
trouble then they were in already. He wouldn't be able to use the elevator, either, and if he got his hands
on the hostages, he might want to get upstairs without phoning the power company.
Most devices had automatic cutoffs on them, however, especially devices that used up as much energy
as gravity changers. Few parents were stupid enough to let their children run up huge debts to the power
company. And the files he had examined in the car had indicated the Rice family had used up most of its
power budget for the month. Another jolt like that and the unit would probably lock itself up.
He glanced up the ladder. Fracarro was already lying flat. Apparently she had unlimited faith in his
devotion to duty.
"You don't understand, Tim. Listen to me. Don't let her frighten you. We're trying to protect-- "
He dropped toward the floor and rolled on to his shoulder. His fingers lost their grip on his gun but the
weight on his back felt two hundred pounds lighter. Either the power was out or the kid was hoarding
what he had.
***


A light blinked over the elevator. Fracarro scrambled to her feet. Edelman picked up his gun and
jumped up. Something snarled on Fracarro's floor. Fracarro's gun banged. A watchtiger shrieked. A girl
screamed the name of a pet over the loudspeaker. A gorilla snarled.
The elevator door opened. He turned around with his gun at eye level and the radar sights leaped out.
A gorilla bounded through the door and ran toward him on all fours.
The gravity changer clutched at him again. He threw himself to one side and Tim suddenly threw the
field into reverse. For a confusing, nauseating moment he scrambled above the floor in free fall. His knees
banged into the floor as the gravity returned to normal and he threw himself around and tried to fire at the