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."Rudy glanced at Matt and shook his head sadly."Maybe whoever built that shipisn't all that different from us."#Shirley Tandler-Gomez dialed nine-one-one and waited."If the lasers on theshuttlecraft aren't powerful enough to damage the big ship, maybe they wouldbe stronger if every single one of them went on at the same time, all pointingat the same spot on the ship."#"There it is," said Bobby Joe.Page 189 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlMatt looked back at the screen and saw the planet shaper just coming out frombehind Venus.Following it, in the atmosphere below, was the chain offireballs, more visible now than they had been earlier.In addition a smallerseries of explosions burst in vacuum above the altitude of the planet shaper.In the wake of the high-altitude explosions was a dark cloud forming aboutfive times higher than atmospheric envelope.Within a couple of minutes, Abby had learned from the captain that the cloudwas likely to be a solid-smoke material to be left in orbit as a sun-screen toreduce the amount of sunlight reaching the planet.When and if the planet wascolonized, a huge array of orbiting shades and mirrors would give the planetan artificially shorter day.As they watched, a magnified image of the planet shaper appeared on anadjacent screen.The image swelled farther and farther until it nearly filledthe screen.Roughly two-thirds of the glossy surface of the ship reflectedstars; the other third reflected the lemon-yellow clouds of Venus.The image continued to grow until Matt suddenly thought he saw a dark patch onthe side of one of the clover-leaf masses.Whoever was controlling the display apparently saw the same thing, because theimage shifted until the dark spot was centered in the screen, and themagnification continued."What's that?" Rudy said."I don't know yet," Matt said."But it could be good news."The image kept growing as all the humans watched.Soon it filled half thescreen and still kept growing."All right!" Bobby Joe yelled.Several of the Archies chattered, either inresponse to the loud noise, or because they were encouraged also.As the dark patch grew, Matt realized he was grinning.The ship had a hole inits hull where the city had struck it.The dark patch they were seeing waspart of the interior of the planet shaper.The ship was still functioning,but it wasn't invincible.Chapter 18Demolition Expert to the Stars"We may have a chance after all," Matt said under his breath.Part of being agood soldier is trying to find any possible route to success.Another part isknowing when to cut your losses and quit.Privately he had been desperatelyworried that the planet shaper had no weakness they could capitalize on.The dark patch on the side of the planet shaper said the ship was vulnerable.Goliath was bleeding."Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Rudy asked."Maybe.""If that's an opening in the hull, the ship might be especially vulnerable toa second attack at the same point.""And the lasers would be worth trying now?""Exactly."Matt turned to Abby."We've got to get the captain to risk at least a coupleof the shuttlecraft.She can see the damage as well as we can.Surely nowthat we've got a chance to stop this thing here and now she'll be willing tosend them out.We've told her we're willing to destroy this ship unless shecooperates, and she may believe that or she may not.Try working on herguilt, if they feel any.They essentially killed the race in the city wethrew at the planet shaper.This has got to be put to a stop."Abby nodded."I'll do my best."As Abby moved closer to the Archie captain, Richard appeared at Matt's side.Richard's forehead glistened with sweat.Matt said, "You look like you've got something to say."Richard nodded."If the Archies send out a few shuttlecraft, they may be ableto do enough damage with the lasers.Or they might not.So far the lasers bythemselves don't seem too effective against mirrors." Richard swallowed.Page 190 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"And?""And I think one of the shuttlecraft would have a much better chance going inthere if it had an additional weapon: high explosives.And obviously thatwould require an expert to use them."Matt looked at Richard long enough for the man to back down if he wanted tobefore Matt finally said, "Am I to understand you're volunteering for themission?""Yes, sir."Matt nodded."You're a good man, Richard.I'll have Abby find out if it'spossible."Richard blinked a couple of times and swallowed.Matt was glad to see the manlooked as nervous as Matt felt.That was good sign of sanity.Anyone notnervous about that prospect waseither an idiot or unqualified, or both.Matt reached Abby's side as she talked to the Archie captain.At the firstopportunity he had her ask if a human would fit into an Archie shuttlecraftalong with the Archie crew.She raised her eyebrows but asked the question."Yes," Abby said when she got the response.Softly, her face paler thannormal, she said to Matt, "Are we talking about you?""No.Richard."Abby took a deep breath and blinked."Now tell the captain we want that human to carry explosives like the onesthat damaged this ship.The supplies we brought with us are the closestones."As Abby spoke with the captain and her own voice occasionally came from thecomputer translator, Matt thought he could see what was going on in thecaptain's mind.The captain wouldn't like the idea of sending a human outthere in a shuttlecraft, and she wouldn't like the idea of taking offensiveactions that could possibly tell the planet shaper that it should consider theArchie ship a threat, and then act on that threat.What the captain would probably like was the idea of getting the explosivesoff the ship itself.After several exchanges, the captain finally agreed.Abby said, "I'msurprised.When I started trying to use guilt, it seemed to me the responsewas even better than when we threatened them
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