"Well?" " It's a solid object." " Check it." " These readings don't make sense." " Oh, give me a printout." " It's a ship." " What, for midgets?" "Or a coffin for a very large man." "Yes, all right." "That's enough of that." "Let's bust it open." "This could be a very short friendship." "If they've got a mass detector, they may have compatible memory wafers." "For K9?" "Why don't we go out and ask them?" "What, trust them?" "Remember what Biroc said." " And why believe Biroc?" " Because he was running." "Keep your eyes on the screen." " Well, then, what are we going to do?" " I'll go." "If they're all right, I'll give you a signal and you can come out." "If not, stay put." "Especially if I do this." " Hello." " Who are you?" " Romanadvoratrelundar." " Are you alone?" "Not now you're here." "Can I help you?" " Or can we help you?" " It depends." "Isn't that a mass detector?" "Rather handy for finding your way around in all this." " Where are you from?" " Our ship." "The warp drive packed up." "She doesn't mean that." "We're traders." "Do you know what a Tharil looks like?" "Would that be a sort of leonine mesomorph?" " With a lot of hair?" " Yeah, that's him, our navigator." " Have you seen him?" " Vision is subjective." "Particularly if the object is loosely connected to the timelines." "What do you know about the timelines?" "My ship travels through them." "So does yours." " How do you know that?" " It must do." "That's how we've all got stuck here." "We are in the theoretical medium between the striations of the continuum." "Stuck?" "Who says we're stuck?" "If you're time travelling, where's your Tharil?" "Tharils?" " I don't use Tharils." " You must use Tharils." "How can you navigate if you can't see where you're going?" "I use a digitally modelled time cone isometry parallel bussed into the image translator." "Locomotion is mapped..." "Yes, well, never mind all that." "Biroc." "Where did he go?" "That's an interesting philosophical question." "They may have compatible memory wafers." "That's what Romana said." "Wafers memory compatible have they." "What?" "Query imprecise." "Additional data required." "What's the matter with your warp drive?" "It's the main power line." "The insulation's gone..." " Nothing we can't fix." " No." "Wait a minute." "You know about warp drive?" "What are you using?" "Continuum warp or implicate theory?" " Supralight speed with dampers." "Huh." "Well, it's probably your toroidal time dilators." "They're usually the first to go." "Um..." "Where is your ship?" " This way." " We don't want her snooping around." " You don't think so?" " No." "Good job you're not running this outfit." "She must be a time sensitive, like the Tharils." "You're a machine." "I usually get on so well with machines." "I don't suppose you happen to know the way out into N-Space, do you?" "I believe it's somewhere around here." "It's, uh..." "Uh-oh." "Alert." "Danger." "Romana's in danger?" "Come on, let's get after her." "No." "I forgot." "You stay there." "Orientation in the void dangerous without computer assistance." " But are you up to it, K9?" " Question irrelevant." "This unit will function at practical optimum." "That's her." "Does have a certain legendary quality." "What is she?" "Passenger transport?" "Bulk freighter." " Full of questions, aren't you?" " Mmm." "They've cut each other dead." "Packard here." "Party aboard, make safe the hatchway." "What?" "Close the door." "After I've gone through." "This way." "Well, I thought she went that way." "Mass detection circuits indicate maximum reading on current vector." "Probability of error..." "Well, what is the probability of error, K9?" "Recomputing." "Probability of error, 87.7948 percent." "87..." "But, that's terrible." "The accuracy of this unit has deteriorated below zero utility." "You mean you're worse than useless?" "Affirmative." "You two, get off my bridge." "And stow that junk." "And this is the bridge, nerve centre of the whole operation." "What operation?" "What are you actually up to?" " Oh, more questions." " Not many answers." "These are the lads with all the answers." "My team." "Best drill you can get." "Efficient as anything on the space race, isn't that right, lads?" "Yeah." " Isn't that right, lads?" "Yes, Captain." "Nothing these boys can't do when they put their minds to it." "Look what Captain Rorvik's brought you, lads." "A new navigator." "Me?" "I can't navigate this." "Oh, you surprise me." "Fix her up." "Navigator." "Wouldn't give her five minutes." "Wanna bet?" "You?" "Perhaps you could teach me to detect mass." "Zero feasibility, young master." "Mass detection dependent on articulated sensors." "Thus." "Oh, I see." "Well, I suppose you use triangulation." "Affirmative, young Adric." "Then your accuracy depends on the distance between your sensors." "Deduction is correct." "To anticipate logically consequent question." "Affirmative." "Let us start her off at 70." "Are you sure she's a time sensitive?" " No." " Oh." "Because if she isn't, she'll be burnt to a frazzle." "That's how you tell." "You stay where you are." "Mass detection error resolved." "Resume." "That's it." "Look." "Hmm." "Not very good." "Step it up." "Another 25." "That's 95." "Right, cut it." "Everybody here, shut up and listen." "The girl was a long shot." "And she isn't working out." "So we're gonna have to start reviving some of our precious cargo." "And that'll lose a lot of bonus if it goes wrong." "And it will." "We'll just have to keep at it till we find something we can use." "This is a democratic ship, right?" "So I wanna hear now from anyone who has any different ideas." "What in the name of all that's sacred is that?" "Quick, boost that voltage." "See if you can get a better fix." "It's not a time picture." "It's geographical." "You mean, something out there now?" "Expedition gear." "We're going out to it." "Move." "Time sensitive, huh?" "Don't think I've finished with you yet." "Poor things." "Hardly any better off than K9." "Memory wafer." "Know thou shall outlive the day of the feast." " Right." "Stow her below." " No, leave her." "Let's get this moving." " What's the hurry?" " It's up to you, Packard." "Personally, I think we've just seen the way out." "Not joining us, gentlemen?" "Well, sir." "It's the string in me leg." "It's gone again." " It's the truth, sir." "I saw it go." " Tragic." "Right." "You better break out one of the cargo and set it up for revival." "Revival?" "What, with no facilities?" "We can't do that." "I don't expect you to." "We'll take care of it when we get back." "Just set it up." "We are Gundan." "We exist to kill." "Slaves made the Gundan to kill the brutes who rule." "What particular brutes did you have in mind?" "The Gundan were sent where no slaves could go." "We faced the time winds and we lived." "They had only the gateway to flee for safety." "Gateway?" "Gateway to where?" "Gateway." "Gateway." "Gateway." "Gateway to where?" "Just as it was getting interesting." "If only I had an alternative source of energy." "Orders, master, orders." "K9." "Just the chap I wanted." "Heads, you choose." "All right." "That's the way it goes, I think." "No." "The other way round." " It don't matter, works either way." " Oh." "What happens next?" "Close down that solenoid and you're away." "It's not as complicated as it looks." "Go on, then." "Uh, no, well, we'd better leave it to them." "How do you know so much about it?" "You seen it done before?" "Not on a ship." "Something usually goes wrong." "They don't like it." "Yeah, 'cause it means their bonus is up the spout." "But we're on the all-in contract." "Switch it off." "You switch it off." "Listen, K9." "I'm sorry to have to ask you to do this." "But all this stuff about the gateway is terribly important." "Energy levels critical." "The whole thing's critically critical, old chap." "This could be the way out." "Now, come on." "Be a good dog." "And power up." "Come on." "Power up." "Up, up, up, up." "Good dog." "Now." "Now." "What's all this about the gateway?" "There were always slaves from the beginning of time." "The masters descended out of the air riding the winds and took men as their prize, growing powerful on their stolen labours and their looted skills." "Yes, well, look, I'm sure this is frightfully interesting." "Could you get back on to the bit about the gateway, please?" "The masters created an empire, drained the life of the ordinary world." "Your ordinary world." "I'm from N-Space." "They came from the gateway." "A-ha." "There are three physical gateways and the three are one." "The whole of this domain, the ancient arch, the mirrors." "The thing is it's not actually a physical gateway that I'm looking for." "All the gateways are one." "So it is here." "The way out." "Something we're all interested in, I think." "Oh, hello." "You seem to have attracted a big audience." "Let's have the rest of the recital." "He doesn't seem to be too sure of his lines." "Prompt him." "Go on." "More." "All the gateways are one." "All the gateways are one." "You see?" "I'm so sorry, he's completely run down." "I'm the Doctor, by the way, and that's K9 and we just..." "There are three physical gateways and the three are one." "This is the place from which the masters came." "Here a great empire once stood, ruling all known space." "This must be the place..." "For all their skills, the slaves could not approach the gateway in their own persons." "But once they learned its secret, we were built, the Gundan robots, to wage war on them." " Gundans, eh?" " And the secret of the gateway is?" "The secret of the gateway is..." "Yes?" "Yes?" "Stop that Gundan." "Move." " There's a way out through here." " Lf you know the trick." " We'll just have to find it, won't we?" " That Doctor knows." "Where's he gone?" "Find him." "There he is." "Look." "Come on, K9." "Nearly there." "Orders, master." "Access required." "Immediate priority."