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were so dextrous that they could do things only micromachines were thought to
accomplish.
 Girls, I want both monitor cover and security cover on both sides. Ruth, you
over there; Erin, you on this side a few meters back of Ruth s position. Got
it?
They both nodded and picked up small hand-held devices from the scooter s
saddlebags. Corby had a longer device with a complex readout screen in the
base and a whole set of lights above. From the base, extending a good half a
meter, was a long, smooth gun-metal-gray rod with a pale yellow tip.
Eve looked at the team and was impressed with how professionally they went
into action. These people knew their business.
 Is there anything you know of this kind that wouldn t show up on our
sensors? she asked Corby.
 Oh, hundreds of things. Most likely, though, would be a security barrier.
Wouldn t be much of a security system if it showed up on scans and pointed
burglars right to it, would it? Might be a pain if the thing s on full with
total body DNA recognition, so I m prayin it s off when somebody s inside.
That s the norm.
 If it s on, could you still get in? John asked him.
 Oh, sure, Corby responded casually, still tweaking his probe,  but might
take a while if it s in good order and we ain t got a while. He twisted the
probe and had some problems getting it to rotate to just where he wanted it. 
Ungh!
Either I m gettin old or this thing is. Okay now, though. You two stay back
here on either side and provide backup.
 Backup? Robey repeated.  You mean . . . ?
 I mean backup. If they got a security vault this sophisticated then there s
no tellin what they keep in it, is there? God s welcome to call me home any
time, but the devil, now, he gets a fight.
And, with that, he stepped down into the irrigation canal and began walking
steadily along it, his frame tall enough that even somebody viewing him
walking in at a right angle could see his shoulders. He held the probe in both
hands to steady it and walked slowly but deliberately forward, looking mostly
straight ahead but glancing down from time to time to check that the
footprints of his predecessors were still clearly visible in the soft mud.
The display lights kept dancing around, apparently guiding him or telling him
something in a specialist s code, and the readout screen fed him more data,
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but he never stopped or wavered.
He walked straight into the barrier and it almost knocked him down. The probe,
of course, touched it first, but it also acted as a conductor of some sort
allowing energy to flow back to the handle base and then to the holder of
same. The shock wasn t serious, but it was unexpected because he d gotten no
readout at all that anything was coming up.
 Brother, are you hurt? Ruth called.
 Only my dignity, and maybe the seat of my pants, Corby grumbled, getting
back to his feet.  Well, so much for the unlocked door theory. Here somebody
give me a hand up! We re going to see how far this thing goes.
Robey was the largest of the waiting agents and ran along the bank, past Erin,
and gave the big, gaunt man the lift he needed to be pulled from the fairly
deep ditch.
He was now filthy, covered with mud, but he looked more angry than
embarrassed.  You women! Come on up here! Young man, you go on further on this
side with Erin, and, young woman, you go along the other side with Ruth. Keep
even on either side of the ditch. I m going to make some adjustments. If
anybody comes out of there, just freeze. They may not even know we re here or
look back. If they do, then do whatever you must.
 That s the best instructions I ve had in a long while, Robey commented. 
 Do whatever you must. I
like that.
Corby paid no attention, adjusting his probe and then making a number of
passes over the spot where he d been shocked, only from the upper bank.
 Got cha! he muttered to himself, smiling grimly.  Won t shock me again like
that. Huh!
 What is it? Robey asked him.
 It s only three meters deep and it stops about twenty-point-three centimeters
above the canal. Damned clever. When they need to irrigate it just runs right
underneath. And that s their first line of defense, too.
Got idiots like me standing in the wet grounding ourselves when we run into
it.
Erin wasn t impressed.  You mean they re both squeezed into something about
the size of a private bathroom? Sounds more kinky than threatening.
 No, I doubt if that s the case. The odds are it turns and goes into the bank
and under. Second line of defense. A bit of a maze. Corby sighed.  Let s see
if I m lucky enough to at least be on the side that matters.
He began slowly passing the probe over the dry, hard-packed dirt and smooth
rock in a broad sweep.
 Nope. Not my day, he sighed, and looked over at the opposite bank.  I have
no particular desire to jump back down into that muck or go back and walk
around, he told them.  Ruth! Catch and do a sweep!
With that, he threw the probe across to his assistant who caught it rather
nimbly. Within a few minutes, Ruth was doing much the same as he but over on
her side, and coming up with the same results.
 Sorry, Brother Corby, but there s nothing registering here, either!
 Got to be! he snapped, not so much at her as at the problem itself.
 You mean they really are in a three-meter-square box we can t see? John
asked him.
Corby brushed off the comment, too busy working the problem. The large hands
waved in the air as he mentally worked out various theories. Finally, he
called,  Ruth! Throw the thing back here! Got a theory to test before they pop [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]