[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Everything held up, but Dondragmer and his captain inspected each part very,
very carefully before the mate and one of the crew crawled aboard the platform
that hung somewhat slanted against thevrock an inch or so below the edge. For
a moment after they had gone aboard everyone watched expectantly; but again
nothing happened, and Dondragmer finally gave the signal to lower away. All
the crew members who were not on the cable rushed to the edge to watch the
descent.
Lackland would have liked to watch it himself, but had no intention of
venturing either the tank or his armored person close enough to do so. Beside
'his own uneasiness at the height, the sight of the cordage the Mesklinites
were using made him unhappy; it looked as though an Earthly clerk would scorn
it for tying a two-pound bag of sugar.
An excited hooting and general withdrawal from the edge indicated the safe
arrival of the first raft, and Lackland blinked as the sailors proceeded to
stack several more on top of each other while the cable was being drawn up.
Apparently no more time than could be helped was to be wasted. Confident as he
was in Barlennan's judgment, the Earthman suddenly decided he wanted to watch
the stack of rafts make the descent. He was on the point of donning his armor
when he remembered that it was not necessary; he relaxed again, called
Barlennan, and asked him to arrange one or more of the little communicators so
that their "eyes" could cover the desired activity. The captain complied
immediately, having a sailor lash one of the sets to the scaffold so that it
looked almost straight down and placing another on top of the pile of rafts
which had just been secured in their rope sling. Lackland switched from one to
the other as the operation proceeded.
The first was a trifle more disconcerting than he had expected, since the
supporting cable was visible for only a few feet from the pickup lens and the
load seemed to be floating down without support; the other gave him a view of
the cliff face that would undoubtedly have been highly interesting to a
geologist. With the descent half completed, it occurred to him to call Toorey
to invite the interested parties to watch. The geology department responded
and commented freely during the rest of the process.
Load after load went down, with little variety to make the operation more
interesting. Toward the end a longer cable was installed and the lowering was
done from below, since the greater part of the brew had now descended; and
Lackland had a file:///F|/rah/Hal%20Clement/Mission_of_Gravity_v1.1.html (51
of 109) [8/31/03 4:54:33 PM]
Page 54
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
MISSION OF GRAVITY
suspicion of the reason when Barlennan finally turned away from the scene of
action and leaped toward the tank. The radio which had been used from that
position was permanently mounted, and had not been taken down with the others.
"We have only about two more loads, Charles," the captain opened. "There will
be a sh'ght problem in connection with the last one. We'd like to keep all our
gear if possible, which means dismantling and sending down the masts used for
our lowering tackle. We don't want to throw them down because we're not sure
they'd take it the soil below is very rocky.
Would you be willing to get into your armor and lower the final load by hand?
I will arrange for it to consist of one raft, those few masts and the
associated tackle, and myself." Lackland was startled by the last item.
"You mean you would trust yourself to my strength, knowing that I'm already
under three and a half times my normal gravity and will have the weight of my
armor as well?"
"Certainly. The armor will easily be heavy enough to serve as anchor, and if
you take a turn of the rope about your own body you can pay it out gradually.
I don't see any difficulty; the load will be only a few of your pounds."
"Not that way, perhaps, but there's another point. Your rope is very thin
indeed, and the handling clamps of my armor are somewhat clumsy when it comes
to managing small objects. What if the cord slips out of my grip?" That
silenced
Barlennan for a moment.
"What is the smallest object you could handle with reasonable security?"
"Oh one of your masts, I should say."
"There is no trouble, then. We will wind the rope about a mast, and you can
use that as a windlass. You can toss mast and rope over afterward; if the
stick is broken the loss will not be too great."
Lackland shrugged. "It's your health and property, Barl. I don't have to say
I'll be careful; I wouldn't want anything to happen to you, especially through
my negligence. I'll be out shortly." The Mesklinite, satisfied, leaped back to
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]