Spinneret

But whatever move Meredith had pla

It didn't come as they drove down the winding streets; nor did a squad roar up from behind as they piled out of the cars by the Great Wall. Unreasonably, Hafner tensed as the first four men slipped through the narrow opening—unreasonably, since no one could have slipped past the tu

And a hundred meters from the tower, Dunlop abruptly signaled a halt. "Smith, Corcoran; go check out the tower entrance," he ordered two of the soldiers.

"They can't get in without me," Hafner spoke up, a shade too quickly. "The Gorgon's Heads will stop them."

Dunlop eyed him for a long moment. "All right, then," the major said, "stand back from the machines and lob a couple of grenades through the opening. That shouldn't hurt anything, should it?"

Wordlessly, Hafner shook his head, his eyes on the soldiers moving toward the tower. They were barely five paces from the opening when, without warning, three khaki-clad men appeared in the doorway, the stu

His ears were still ringing from the burst when a hand grabbed his collar and roughly yanked him to his knees. Peripherally, he saw Dunlop's men stretched out on their bellies, rifles pointed toward the tower … but his main attention was focused on the pistol Dunlop held against his temple. A pistol gripped by a whiteknuckled hand.

"Meredith!" the major yelled toward the tower and directly in Hafner's ear. "I've got Hafner here—you hear me? Surrender or I'll kill him. I mean it!"

He paused for breath or an answer … and in the silence Hafner heard, dimly, the sound of distant gunfire. Dunlop's hand twitched; but before he could do or say anything, Meredith's voice drifted faintly from the tower. "Give it up, Dunlop.

You haven't got a chance."

"I've got Hafner!" the major shouted again. "You want to see him die?"

"Don't be a fool," Meredith called. "You can't get into the tower, your rear guard at the tu

"Just shut up!" Dunlop yelled.

"Major," a sergeant spoke up tentatively, "maybe we ought to surrender—"

"Talk of surrender will be treated as desertion," Dunlop cut him off harshly.

"Meredith! I'll make you a deal. You call the UN ship and have them send down a shuttle for us. Then have your people pull back and let us leave here."

"What about Dr. Hafner?"

"I'll ask Msuya to send him back down once we're aboard."

"Forget it," Meredith called. "However, I'll make you a counterproposal. If you turn Hafner loose right now, I'll guarantee you all safe passage to the UN ship."

"You think I'm stupid enough to trust you? We're leaving, Meredith—you'd better call your people off." Cautiously, Dunlop stood up, hauling Hafner to his feet.

"All right; everybody get up and fall back to the cars."

Slowly, even reluctantly, the soldiers complied—and because he was watching them, Hafner saw the shocked expressions as they began turning to leave. "Oh, bloody hell," someone muttered.

Preoccupied with the gunfire and shouted negotiations, Hafner had completely forgotten about the Gorgon's Heads. But the machines had obviously not forgotten them … and as he gazed at the six Gorgon's Heads standing motionlessly between them and the Great Wall, Hafner had the eerie feeling he was seeing a new level of programming being brought into play. With their tentacles poised like angry rattlesnakes, they seemed u

"Take it easy," Dunlop snapped, pushing Hafner a step closer to the wall. "As long as we've got the doc here they won't touch us."

"They're not armed, and they wouldn't understand what 'prisoner' means if you drew them a picture," Dunlop countered. "Come on, men."

"Hell with that," someone behind Dunlop muttered. "Meredith! I'm accepting your deal!"

Dunlop swung around, releasing Hafner's shirt as he brought his pistol to bear.

"Back in ranks, you!" the major snarled— and Hafner leaped for the Gorgon's Heads.

He'd covered less than half the distance when something that felt and sounded like a small bomb blasted into his thigh, slamming him hard into the ground. A scream of pain welled up in his throat … but even as his clenched teeth blocked the escape he was deafened by a second thunderclap. He tensed for a new wave of agony, but it never came; and as the smell of ozone finally penetrated his painfogged consciousness he realized something else entirely had just happened.

Raising his head with an effort, he looked back over his shoulder.

Where Dunlop had been standing a charred figure now lay sprawled on the ground. Around it the rebel soldiers stood frozen, their weapons sagging in their hands. From the tower a new group of soldiers was ru

"I guess they are still armed."

And then, thankfully, the darkness took him.

Chapter 29

Busy with the task of straightening things out in the Spi

"It doesn't look like he's going to die," Andrews said. "They're not sure yet whether they'll be able to save his leg— the thighbone was pretty badly damaged."

Meredith nodded tiredly. "Yeah. Carmen … I'm sorry."

"Wasn't your fault. Colonel." Her voice was under control, despite the strain lines in her face. "Dunlop had to be stopped."

"Stopped and a half." He shifted his eyes to Andrews again. "You tell her?"

The other nodded. "Any idea yet what that flash was?"

"Simple old-fashioned high voltage, apparently. Probably grounded through a cable-material base or grid underlying the cavern soil."

"So now the supervisors have been raised to demigod status," Carmen murmured.

"Able to call lightning down on their attackers." She sighed. "I don't think I like the idea of Gorgon's Heads equipped with offensive weaponry."

Andrews shrugged. "It'll sure slow down any more would-be rebels."

"Oh, it's fine now. But what about twenty years from now?"

"We'll have the whole system figured out by then," Meredith assured her. "I've already made the supervisor/security programming a high-priority project. We'll be able to make new supervisors long before we need them."

"That wasn't what I meant," Carmen shook her head. "I mean it's just one more way the Spi