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28

"We can put in every fail-safe known to man and build in as much computer backup and redundancy as possible. We still won't stop really determined, really stupid humans from wrecking everything. Looking back at history it only takes one ass to destroy millions of lives. Give them a Stalin, a Hitler, a Mugabe or a Pol Pot and they'll destroy their own habitat. That's something we can't engineer out of the system."

Senator Lin Te Kauni: Transcript of the Debate in the SysGov Upper House on the Slowtrain funding bill.

 

Outside again, Kretz listened hopefully. He began receiving Selna. She was plainly simply repeat broadcasting. Well, that was a sign of rationality at least, even if her voice was full of fear.

"—has been large explosion from the alien habitat. Enough to rock the ship. Things have been violently thrown around here, but the electromagnets held. I do not know what they are doing. I am making preparations as best I can to lift the ship at any sign of attack. I repeat, Kretz or Abret, there has been . . ."

It was worrying enough to have distracted him from another, nearer alarm. The rebreather system was bleeping at him. He'd just started using his reserve.

 

Abret was trying to do what he knew he should have done a long time ago—learn the language of his captors. His jailors were less cooperative than they'd been with Derfel, of course. He was, apparently, an evil usurper. Only the one would speak to him at all, and he appeared to hate his prisoner. Abret was also wondering whether the alien food would kill him before hormonal changes did.

And, of course, he was devoting a great deal of time to thinking about escape. It wouldn't be easy. The bars were rusted, but it was a very thin layer of rust. That must have been a very good corrosion resistant alloy that they'd used many hundreds of years back. Selna's repeat broadcast was a bit more rational—sudden fear had plainly forced her back to her senses. Abret hoped that it would last, but her attempt to fly the ship would probably be disastrous. She had neither the engineering nor the navigational skills it would need.

He'd given some thought to this explosion, and the violent throwing things about. The only thing that he could think of that could possibly do something like that would be some kind of explosive decompression.

 

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Framed