United States or Greece ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The Guide aimed quickly and pressed the trigger of the ultrasonic stunner. The pistol dropped soundlessly on the thick-piled rug; the man in uniform slumped in an inert heap. The Guide sprang to his feet and rounded the desk, crossing to and bending over the intruder. Why, this was the dream that had plagued him through the years. But it was ending differently.
Not only was the hearing range widened after consuming thirty CC of Beta, they could hear the sound of an ultrasonic dog-whistle quite plainly but the very quality of all audible sounds was curiously enhanced and altered.
Experiments in sonics, like the one which had produced the ultrasonic stun-gun which rendered lethal weapons unnecessary for police and defense purposes, or the new musical combinations with which he was able to play upon every emotion and instinct. But he still dreamed, the same recurring dream of the young soldier and the old man in the office.
"Is that a Sword-World robot, sir, or did you capture it somewhere?" "It's one of our own." He was pardonably proud; it had been built on Tanith a year before. "Has an ultrasonic dishwasher underneath, and it does some cooking on top, at the back." The elderly captain was, if anything, even more impressed than his young charge.
There was another pistol under the dead man's coat, in a shoulder-holster; a queer thing with a thick round barrel, like an old percussion pepper-box, and a diaphragm instead of a muzzle. Probably projected ultrasonic waves. He holstered his own Colt and pocketed the unknown weapon. There was a black plastileather-bound notebook. It was full of notes.
A couple of policemen in green uniforms, with ultrasonic paralyzers dangling by thongs from their left wrists and bolstered sigma-ray needlers like the one on the desk inside the dome, were kidding with some girls in vivid orange and scarlet and green smocks. One of these, in bright green, was a duplicate of the one he had seen rubbing herself down with a towel.
Rip could see no beauty in their lines, but to his professional eye there was plenty of deadly efficiency. The Connie fighting craft looked like three globes strung evenly on a steel tube. The middle globe was larger than the end ones, and it was transparent. From it projected the barrels of two kinds of weapons—explosive and ultrasonic. Five men usually rode in the middle ball. One piloted.
One of the detectives helped him on with his metal and plastic armor; before sealing his gauntlets, he reciprocated the assistance, then checked the needler and blaster and the long batonlike ultrasonic paralyzer on his belt and made sure that the radio and sound-phones in his helmet were working.
Rip could see no beauty in their lines, but to his professional eye there was plenty of deadly efficiency. The Connie fighting craft looked like three globes strung evenly on a steel tube. The middle globe was larger than the end ones, and it was transparent. From it projected the barrels of two kinds of weapons explosive and ultrasonic. Five men usually rode in the middle ball. One piloted.
He put the plug in his ear and switched on the power. Instantly he began hearing a number of small sounds he had never heard before, and Baby was saying to him: "He-inta sa-wa'aka; igga sa geeda?" "Muhgawd, Gus, he's talking!" "Yes, I hear him; what do you suppose ?" "Ultrasonic; God, why didn't we think of that long ago?" He snapped off the hearing aid. Baby Fuzzy was saying, "Yeeek."
Word Of The Day