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was
chopped above the elbow, the other flapped against the metal for a moment then
was still.
    With,
due to the anti-gravity units, in effect no friction, the gigantic load
continued on its way while Jim watched appalled. He realised with a crippling
jolt of fear that it was heading for the Plasma Sphere. The men in the quarry
must have realised the same thing because they sprinted away yelling warnings.
Jim burst out of the lab and ran down the steps, he took half a dozen steps
towards the pallet, if they could only switch off one of the A/G units it would
destabilise the pallet… It was hopeless; the pallet was out of range and
spinning too quickly anyway, shedding lethal sheets of iron as it went. He
turned and began to run the other way, knowing that running away was hopeless
too. Behind him the pallet must be nearing its target. When it broke the
sphere, which it surely must, the plasma breach would vaporise everything in
the quarry. He was glad he hadn’t let Amy come with him to work today. He hoped
Athena would look after her, knew that she would. He stopped running; there was
no point. He looked up at the sky; it really was very beautiful. He wished he
had spent more time looking at it. Off to the east there was a metallic glint in
the sunshine. It was racing towards the quarry. He waved frantically; the
shuttle must turn back. It wouldn’t stand a chance.
     
    <><><> 
     
    “Help!
This is the quarry! We have a full emergency!” the squawk on the radio startled
Grad out of his reverie, already en route, he pushed the throttle lever full
forward.
    “Quarry,
this is the shuttle. I am inbound and about six klicks out. What can I do?”
There was no reply from the comms, and Grad cursed under his breath. The abject
panic in the man’s voice had been plain enough. The quarry was now ahead and
Grad arced down without slowing until the final second, flashing over the heads
of the people still running away from the lip of the quarry’s deep bowl. Down
below someone was waving. Grad cut the power and let the shuttle drop like a
brick directly down to the figure. At four metres the motors cut back in on
their own and the shuttle stopped, hovering just above the ground.
    Jim
was frantically pointing across the quarry to where a massive object was just
covering the last few metres between it and a large white ball. The Plasma
Sphere! Grad reached across and taking Jim by the front of his overalls, hauled
him in through the open passenger window, At the same time feeding full power
into the A/G  and throwing the throttle full forward. Jim, not strapped in
or wearing G-cancellation, screamed as a bone broke, then mercifully passed
out, a thin stream of blood starting from his nose.
     
    <><><> 
     
    Lana
started out of her afternoon nap, a deep feeling of unease deadening her heart.
Something had happened to Grad. She just knew it. She tried calling him on his
internal comms but there was nothing. It was more than just being out of range.
It was like the sensation of trying to contact an infant who had no
implants.  She dressed hurriedly and ran down the corridors to the Comms
Centre. As she entered she could see everyone looking at her. Athena Johnson
came forward and took her hands. Her legs almost gave way.
    “What’s
happened? Is he dead?”
    “We
don’t know yet, reports are still coming in. There is still hope but I want you
to be ready.” Athena guided her gently to a chair. “There has been a plasma
burst at the quarry. Witnesses say that Grad flew in just before it happened
and no one saw him fly out. But things are very confused. We won’t know for
sure until a proper search has been done. We’ve sent out probes to look for
life traces.”
    Lana
sat in the chair, waves of misery washing over her. Christel came over and put
her arm round her. Lt Jackson looked up from the Probe monitors and smiled
thinly. Time seemed to slow down.
     
    <><><> 
     
    Gunnar
flattened down the grass as best he could so