William Shatner - Tek War 2 - Tek Lords

VIP免费

2024-12-20 0 0 723.15KB 355 页 5.9玖币

侵权投诉

tek lords [158-011-2.9]

By: William Shatner

Synopsis:

Second book of the Tek war series.

Friday May 16, 2120, was grey and rain filled across most of Greater

Los Angeles. It was not going to be an especially good day for Jake

Cardigan.

At a little before ten in the morning he landed his air car on the

ground-level visitors' lot next to the Oceanside Educational Academy in

the Santa Monica Sector of GLA. There was a sharp wind blowing across

the choppy Pacific.

The academy consisted of a series of three huge linked plastiglass

domes built on pilings out over the grey, foamy ocean. Several off

white gulls came circling down through the hard rain to settle atop the

nearest dome.

Jake unbuckled his safety harness, sighed, shook his head and, with

hunched shoulders, stepped out into the rainswept morning. He didn't

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

much want to be here.

He was a sandyhaired man in his late forties, of middle height,

good-looking in a weatherbeaten, world weary sort of way. He ran from

his car to the entrance of the nearest dome like someone who was still

in pretty good shape.

The curved plastiglass door, which was tinted a pale blue, hissed open

in anticipation. Jake entered the large oval foyer. "I have an

appointment with--" "Halt," advised the seven-foot-tall security robot

who stood, wide legged, at the far end of the room. "Keep your hands

at your sides." Jake obliged. "As I was saying, I have an appointment

with--"

"Please state your name, sir." The big robot's voice was high pitched,

a bit squeaky. "Jake Cardigan." "Last name first."

"Cardigan, Jake." He walked a few paces closer. "Look, I'm supposed

to see the clean about my--"

"Cardigan, Jake." The gunmetal robot had three rows of tiny lights

implanted across his wide chest. Several of them began flashing in

sequence as he checked out Jake's name. After less than ten seconds he

made a disapproving clucking sound. "You can't be admitted, I'm

afraid. Please, take your leave."

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Instead Jake walked right up to the security robot. "My son, Dan, is

a student here--and don't blame me for that, my ex wife picked out this

place for him," he explained. "The clean wanted to see her this

morning to talk about some problems Dan's having. Kate, though, says

she can't get time off from her new job up in San Francisco and she

asked me to come instead. Clear?"

"Cardigan, Jake. Convicted felon, sentenced to fifteen years in the

orbiting penal colony commonly known as the Freezer," recited the big

got. "It is the opinion of the academy that convicted felons tend to

have a bad influence on the developing minds of our students and,

therefore, there's a rule against--"

"I was up in the Freezer," Jake cut in to admit. "However, I was

released after just four years. And, as of a few weeks ago, I was

given a full pardon. All the officials and toadies in our great State

of Southern California, not to mention every damn official in the

Creater Los Angeles government as well, now firmly believes that I was

framed and wrongly sent to prison. So, unless you want to be

dismantled piece by piece and donated to the nearest scrap heap, you'll

let me in."

"Are you threatening me, sir?"

Jake gave a bleak grin. "I am, yeah."

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"I'm designed to withstand assaults." He held up his metallic right

hand, each finger of which was tipped with a different colored light

bead "Built into this hand alone are several formidable weapons, any

of which is capable of-"

"Maybe you ought to check with your bosses," suggested Jake. "Since

I'm here, I'd like to keep the appointment with the clean."

After making a few rattling sounds, the robot shut its metal eyelids.

Various sorts of whirrings came out of its skull and broad chest, the

tiny lights flashed. "Wouldn't you know it?" he asked when he snapped

his eyes open. "Our files weren't properly updated. You aren't, Mr.

Cardigan, a felon at all. Allow me, therefore, to extend you a cordial

welcome to the academy." He held out his left hand and a slip of

yellow plazpaper eased out of one of the thin slots in his palm. "Take

this pass and travel along Corridor A-2, following the green floor

arrows to Door A-2/203."

"Thanks." Closing his hand on the pass, Jake stepped around the bulk)?

robot and crossed the threshold to the corridor.

A loud hooting commenced pouring out of a row of small overhead

speakers.

"Whoa there, hold it." The robot spun, grabbed out and caught Jake by

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

the shoulder. "You ought to have informed me that you were carrying an

illegal weapon."

"I'm not." Jake tapped the shoulder holster he wore under his jacket.

"I have the proper permits for this stun gun

"I have to have a look at them." The robot ran his left forefinger up

and down each of Jake's arms, around his torso and then, bending with a

faint creak, he frisked his trouser legs. "I don't note any other

weapons."

Jake took his ID packet out, flipping it open to his gun permits and

his license as an operative of the Cosmos Detective Agency. "I'm a

private investigator these days, with all my papers in order."

"That must be a fascinating line of work," remarked the big robot as he

scanned the material with his plazeyes and his left thumb. "I bet it

beats standing around in a drafty foyer all day."

"The work is usually a little more interesting than that, yeah," Jake

acknowledged.

"Everything is in order, Mr. Cardigan. You can proceed."

"Much obliged." He put his IDs away and started again along the

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

designated corridor.

The dean's office was large and its one see through wall offered a view

of the rough grey Pacific. Strung out along the horizon were several

robot scows. The dean's desk was made of licorice-colored plastiglass

and seated behind it was a copper plated robot wearing a conservative

business suit that was the same color as the rainy sky outside. "We

were expecting Mrs. Cardigan," the robot told Jake. "I was expecting

the clean." Jake lingered in the doorway. "Dean Bushmill is,

unavoidably, elsewhere, I'm the assistant clean of Oceanside,"

explained the dapper robot. "My name is Ticknor

(M14)/SCES30FAB."

Jake crossed the room slowly and sat down in the tin chair facing

Ticknor. "My former wife couldn't get the time off to come down here

from Frisco," he said. "Is Dan in some sort of trouble?" "Serious

trouble," replied the robot. "Can you give me some specifics?"

The robot said, "Your son is currently being held in the Detention Wing

in Dome # 2. He is suspected of using the highly addictive electronic

drug popularly known as Tek. Pending further investigation into

the--"

"Wait." }ake was on his feet, frowning. "Dan's not using Tek or any

other--"

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"According to our records, Mr. Cardigan, there is a family history of

addiction to the--"

"C'mon, Tek addiction can't be inherited." Jake, his anger growing,

leaned and put both hands, palms down, on the desk. "I was a tekkie

once, I've never denied it. But that was years ago and it has

absolutely nothing to do with my son."

"You were also a Tek dealer, convicted and sent to prison. Growing up

in such an environment would certainly influence a child toward--"

"Why the hell can't you guys keep your records up to date? I was

1 o ,

cleared of all those charges--weeks ago," Jake told him, lifting one

hand and turning it into a fist. "I just went through all this crap

with your secbot."

"Perhaps I'm in error." The assistant clean robot reached to his

right, touching a control pad built into his desk top. "If you'll turn

your attention to the screen on the wall behind you."

A picture blossomed on the large wallscreen. A lean man of about forty

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

was seated cross legged in a field of high yellow grass, lecturing a

scattered crowd of several hundred people. His hair was dead white and

long, tied back with a twist of crimson ribbon. He wore a two-piece

suit of silky crimson fabric. Up behind him on the sunny hillside was

parked a glittering silvery land van with the words vAN COLLECE

lettered on its side in glowing tubes of colored light. "... they tell

you Tek will hurt you," he was saying to the seated crowd. "They

manufacture stories about its being addictive, about Tek's causing

epileptic seizures, about its ruining lives. Lies. All lies, my dear

young friends and disciples. Tek is, if you want the truth, simply the

most important discovery of our twenty-second century. Important

because it has liberated the imagination, freed the mind of its fetters

and, most importantly, enabled poor docile ciphers like you and like me

to discover the true nature of ourselves and of our souls. Trust me

when 1 tell you that Tek cannot at all harm you and can only liberate

the .. ."

The robot had touched the panel again and the image of the sunlit field

died. "I assume, considering your background, that you know who that

is."

"Sure, it's Professor Joel Freedon, a nitwit who travels around the

country advocating the legalization of Tek." Jake sat again. "What's

he got to do with Dan?"

"We found the vidcaz you've just seen," explained Assistant Dean

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Ticknor, "in your son's sleep cubicle, hidden away in his property

locker."

"You did, huh?" Jake stood again, walking around the desk to stand

next to the robot's chair. "And Dan gave you permission to search?"

"Of course not. Our periodical random searches of the students'

belongings for subversive materials, pornography and illegal substances

wouldn't be effective if we were to warn them in advance of our

intention to--"

"Under the existing laws in SoCal, Ti&nor, you've violated my son's

civil rights," Jake told him, keeping the anger out of his voice as

best he could. "On top of which, even if your search had been legal,

all you've proved is that Dan has dubious taste in what he watches on

his vidcaz machine. Having a copy of a lecture by a dimwit like Prof

Freedon doesn't make anybody a tekkie. I'm assuming you didn't find a

Brainbox or any Tek chips when you ransacked Dan's stuff."

"Well, no. The important point, however, is that he was in possession

of a vidcaz that openly--"

"I think I'd better talk to the clean. Fairly soon," mentioned Jake,

the bleak grin touching his face again. "Since Kate seems to think,

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

god knows why, that this is the school Dan ought to be attending, I

guess he'd best stay here for now. So I want your dean--not a robot,

not an android, but somebody with a pulse--to drop all the charges and

reinstate my son." He paused, taking a slow, deep breath. "Otherwise

I'm going to start a lawsuit against you folks."

"Well, now." The robot raised his hand and made a calming gesture

toward Jake. Then he shut his eyes. "Allow me to check up on a few

things, Mr. Cardigan." His coppery skull began to produce humming

sounds. Every few seconds he nodded and after nearly two minutes he

opened his eyes and said, "Dean Bushmill is unable to leave the golf

tournament he's playing in up at his satellite country club. He does,

however, agree with you that a grave mistake has been made in the case

of your son. Daniel Cardigan will be released from detention

immediately and all charges erased. Dean Bushmill wasn't aware, by the

way, until just now, that you were such a highly thought of member of

the staff of the Cosmos Detective Agency. A very prestigious, and

influential, organization here in Greater Los Angeles."

"Which proves that even deans can learn something new every once in a

while."

The robot rose up. "I assume you'd like to visit with your son while

you're here."

Jake hesitated a few seconds before answering. "Yeah, sure," he said

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

文档加载中……请稍候！
如果长时间未打开，您也可以点击刷新试试。

下载文档到电脑，查找使用更方便

5.9 玖币 0人已下载

立即下载 VIP免费下载

摘要：

teklords[158-011-2.9] By:WilliamShatner Synopsis: SecondbookoftheTekwarseries. FridayMay16,2120,wasgreyandrainfilledacrossmostofGreaterLosAngeles. ItwasnotgoingtobeanespeciallygooddayforJakeCardigan. Atalittlebeforeteninthemorninghelandedhisaircarontheground-levelvisitors'lotnexttotheOceansideEduca...

展开>> 收起<<

William Shatner - Tek War 2 - Tek Lords.pdf

共355页,预览71页

还剩页未读，继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

William Shatner - Tek War 2 - Tek Lords

相关推荐

开通VIP享超值会员特权

作者详情

相关内容

热门标签

举报选择: