The Cold Steel Mind Read Online Free PDF Page A

the computer?’ Aneka said. ‘Isn’t that… risky?’
    ‘It probably won’t be functional,’ Wallace replied. ‘It may take a lot of effort to reconstruct its memory once we have it powered up and I doubt the actual operating software is complete enough to function. Even if it is, there’s little it can do. The ship has no weapons. Its sub-light drive is destroyed and while the warp drive is largely intact, there is significant damage to the power conduits leading into it.’
    ‘Okay,’ Aneka said, though she could not help thinking it was still a bad idea. ‘What am I doing?’
    ‘You’ll be shadowing me and Ella,’ Gillian replied. ‘We’ll be going through the other rooms checking for anything useful. That medical bay you found is a priority. We want to gather up any chemicals, drugs, whatever, for analysis back at the university.’
    ‘And we’ll be keeping an eye on you all from the station,’ Drake said. ‘Not as interesting as our usual tasks, but more relaxing.’
    ‘Hopefully more relaxing than Alpha Mensae,’ Shannon said. ‘We’re quite sure there aren’t any hidden Xinti robots aboard that thing?’
    ‘No,’ Gillian said, ‘which is why Aneka is going to be packing her… Bessie is it?’
    Aneka grinned. She had named the handgun the Xinti had provided her with ‘Bessie.’ ‘Yeah, Bessie will be along to introduce herself if something nasty crawls out of a corner. Let’s hope not because she’s about as subtle as an anti-tank rocket.’
    5.8.524 FSC.
    ‘That’s Bessie?’ Delta asked, nodding at the pistol strapped to Aneka’s right thigh. It was big, chunky, with an over-sized barrel wrapped in a very solid shell.
    ‘That’s her,’ Aneka replied, patting the gun’s butt where the power cell was. ‘A Xinti anti-matter blaster. Basically she launches a few anti-protons down a channel evacuated by a laser. It causes a small nuclear explosion at the point it hits. Like I said, not subtle.’
    ‘Uh, no.’ Delta came to a stop beside the hatch leading to the machine shop in the station. ‘Well, wish me luck. A day of working with Monkey laying power cables.’
    Aneka smiled and pushed off towards the bridge to the Agroa Gar. ‘You’ll be fine. Monkey’s a great guy once you get to know him.’ She got only a grunt and the sound of the hatch being opened in reply.
    Gillian and Ella were waiting outside the engineering rooms. Beyond them, Aneka could see Wallace and Bashford hard at work removing the outer shielding of the warp drive while Cassandra apparently just watched. In practice she was recording the process, her eyes being a perfectly good, stereoscopic video camera. Aneka would be doing the same thing for Gillian and Ella with the added benefit that she could record in a far wider frequency range.
    ‘Delta all ready to spend the day with Monkey?’ Ella asked as Aneka approached.
    ‘What possessed you to put our two shy people in a room together, Gillian?’ Aneka asked in reply.
    ‘There was only one cabin left.’ Gillian gave a slight shrug. ‘He likes her. He’s gone all quiet around her.’
    Aneka grinned. ‘I recognise the symptoms. Shall we proceed?’
    ‘By all means. Lead the way, Facilitator First Rank Jansen.’
    Aneka pushed back the way she had come, towards the port side rooms which had not been surveyed when the ship had been initially discovered. ‘I love it when you go all formal, Doctor Gilroy. Next thing you know we’ll be spanking Ella.’
    ‘Work first, play later.’
    There were two of the cells, or containment rooms, or whatever you called a chamber designed to hold experimental subjects between examinations. The one towards the rear of the ship appeared to have been designed more for animals. Rather than the robot arms, half the room was sealed behind a transparent, but extremely tough, shield wall which looked like it had been designed to slide apart.
    ‘It’s a bio-plastic,’ Ella said, her eyes on a scanner she was holding, a