Bill 2 - on the Planet of Robot Slaves Read Online Free PDF Page A

was too late. Lightning bolts of ravening energy poured from the dragons' mouths and engulfed the ship.
    All the fuses blew, all the lights went out. And they were falling.
    “Getting mighty close to that planet,” Bill observed, then drew back before the barrage of curses. “Temper, temper,” he said. “Does anyone know how we can get out of this one?”
    “Pray,” Cy said, rolling his eyes heavenward, or in any direction, which was the same thing. “Pray for salvation and succor.”
    Captain Bly sneered at that. “You are the only sucker here if you think that is going to help us. We've got one chance and one chance only. Our fuel is gone, our batteries drained...”
    “Then we are dead!” Praktis wailed and tore out handfuls of hair.
    “Not quite yet. I said we had a chance. The forward hold is filled with garbage and is ready for ejection. This is done by a giant spring that has been coiled up by the compression of the garbage when it was packed aboard. At the very last instant before we crash I will eject the garbage. By the Newtonian Principle that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction our speed will be neutralized and we will come to rest.”
    “A garbage drive,” Bill moaned. “Is this the end? What a way to die...”
    But his complaint went unheard for they were already in the planet's atmosphere and the molecules of air pummeled the spacer cruelly. They smashed into the outer skin, heated it into incandescence while the garbage spacer still hurtled downwards. Through thicker and thicker air, through wispy high clouds, towards the ground below that rushed towards them at a terrible pace.
    “Fire the garbage!” Praktis pleaded, but to no avail. Captain Bly stood firm. The others added their cries to his, begged and sobbed, but the thick, grubby finger did not descend.
    Closer and ever closer they fell, until they could see individual grains of sand on the ground below —
    In the final nanosecond of the last microsecond the finger stabbed down.
    Ka-chunk! went the coiled spring, releasing its nascent energy in a single mighty spasm.
    Ka-flopf! went the garbage, hurtling outward to crash into the planet just below.
    Ker-splat! went the space tug as it settled gently into the mound of old newspapers, fish cans, grapefruit rinds, broken light bulbs, beheaded rats, dead tea bags and shredded files.
    “Not bad if I say so myself,” Captain Bly chortled. “Not bad at all. This is really one for the record books.”
    The cabin echoed with the click of safety belts being unlocked, the thud of hesitant boots upon the rusty deck.
    “Gravity feels good,” Bill opined. “A little light, but good...”
    “Shut up!” Praktis snapped. “I have one question and one question only for you, Cy. Did you...” his voice broke and he restored it with a quick cough. “Did you get off the planet's position?”
    “I tried to, Admiral. But the power cut off before I could get out a signal.”
    “Then do it now! There must be some juice left in the batteries. Try it!”
    Cy punched in the commands, then thumbed the activator button. The screen glowed — then went black and all the lights went out. Wurber shrieked with fear at the sudden darkness, sobbed with relief when the feeble glow of the emergency bulb oozed out.
    “It worked!” Praktis chortled. “Worked! The signal went out!”
    “Sure did, Admiral. At that strength it must have gone up about five feet at least.”
    “Then we are marooned...” Bill intoned feebly. “Lost in space. On an enemy planet. Surrounded by flying dragons. Millions of parsecs from home. In a dead spaceship sitting on a mound of garbage.”
    “You got it buddy-boy,” Cy nodded. “That's just about the size of it.”

CHAPTER 4
    “Here is your beer, sir. Can I go potty now?” Wurber gurgled, holding out the once-warm bottle, now blood-hot from his heated grip.
    Praktis snarled an inarticulate reply as he grabbed the bottle and half-drained it in a single