The Web and the Stars Read Online Free PDF Page A

and holding onto his glass of beer.
    After traveling a few meters to one side, still a good distance from the cavern wall, the mechanism stopped, and drill bits popped back out, still with their padding.
    Calmly, Gio placed his beer on a drinking platform that was directly in front of him now, and sat down again on the tread. Looking over at Subi, he said, “A little musical-bar-stool trick we added,” he said. “I suggested it to Thinker, and he thought it was a fine idea, to keep the Guardians alert to anything.”
    “They look more than alert now,” Subi said, resuming his seat beside Gio. “In fact, I’d say they’re in an ornery mood.”
    “Drinks are on me!” Gio said, as he watched people wipe dirt off their uniforms. “Set ’em up.”
    Actually, none of them had to pay for beers. It was one of the fringe benefits of their dangerous jobs.
    Gradually the word got out about what Gio Nehr and the machines had done, and nervous laughter erupted in the Brew Room.
    “When will it go on again?” a man shouted, as he climbed back up onto the tread.
    “When you least expect it,” Gio said.
    * * * * *
    Beer and hard drinks flowed, while Subi turned the conversation to the one that had grown closest to his heart, the whereabouts and safety of their missing leader, Noah Watanabe.
    “I’d like to break him out,” the adjutant said, “But we have conflicting reports on where he is.”
    “I’ve been on two of the recon missions,” Gio said.
    “Yeah, I know.”
    “Thinker got all the data, and doesn’t think our chances of finding Master Noah are very good, since there are too many possible holding places for him. This is a very large planet.”
    “No matter,” Subi said. “We’ll keep sending out robots and people like you. I promise you, we’ll find him no matter how long it takes. Some reports have him in one of the fifteen prisons on Canopa, or in one of the smaller jails, or even underground. I don’t think they took him off-planet, not with the cessation of podship travel and the slowness of other means of space travel.”
    “Sounds like you’ve analyzed every detail yourself,” Gio said.
    “I have, and I’ll never give up until we find him.”
    “I know you won’t. None of us will. At this very moment, Thinker is undoubtedly assembling all available data on where Noah could be, and running probability programs. Unfortunately, the Master’s captors have covered their tracks, and have dispersed many false clues as to his whereabouts.”
    As the buzz of conversation died down, Gio excused himself and walked wearily out into the main chamber, to the barracks there. Most of the other Guardians did the same, but Subi remained behind, nursing his last glass of dark ale.
    Whatever method the Guardians used to rescue Noah, it would have to be a guerrilla strike … in and out quickly, like the successful attacks they had been making against Red Beret and CorpOne facilities. The Guardians, even with the inclusion of Thinker’s small army, did not have the force necessary to fight their powerful foes any other way. They had to use cunning and subterfuge.
    Finally, Subi trudged back out into the main cavern, moving slowly and purposefully through the low illumination. As he climbed the stairs of the barracks, his thoughts drifted back to Giovanni Nehr.
    While Subi was impressed by the man’s energy and ideas, he was troubled that he could not quite figure him out, could not quite get a comfortable handle on him. At times, Gio could be smooth and erudite, while on other occasions he mixed easily with the lowest ranks, the grunts and trainees. He certainly was an independent sort, with potentially strong leadership qualities. But something troubled Subi about him, something he couldn’t quite grasp.
    In bed, he lay awake thinking about it. The teenage cousins had not liked Gio, based upon their prior relationship, but so far those details had not surfaced … and probably never would, now that they