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Zahn, Timothy - Spinneret
& and for the moment the curiosity was stronger. "I'm going to try it again,"
he announced, amazed at the calm in his voice. Clenching his teeth, he started
forward.
This time he stepped directly toward the Gorgon's Head, getting only a pace
and a half before the same elongating tentacle snapped out. He managed to hold
still as the metal again gripped his skin, his eyes on two other tentacles
that arched over the machine like rattlesnakes preparing to strike. For five
heartbeats nothing happened & and then the Gorgon's Head emitted a sound like
a hiccup, and suddenly Meredith was surrounded by a cloud of smoke. He took an
incautious breath and nearly choked. "It's all right," he gasped, to forestall
any action from the others. "Just like being buried alive in spice teas." He
sniffed again, but the cloud already seemed to have dissipated.
Simultaneously, the Gorgon's Head withdrew its tentacle from his arm.
"Well?" Perez asked from behind him.
"Why are you asking me
? Meredith retorted. "I'm not in charge here."
"I wonder," Hafner said slowly. "Colonel & why don't you try going for the
stairs again."
Meredith thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "All right. Major, get
ready with that headset."
Neither machine made the slightest move to interfere as he walked into the
stairway entrance, nor did they react when Barner lobbed him the headset.
"They seem to have lost interest in me," he commented as he put on the
headset, temporarily out of reach of both Gorgon's Heads. "Let's hope the
word's been spread to the rest of the gang."
"I'll be very surprised if it hasn't," Hafner said. "I think, Colonel, that
you've been declared a friend."
Meredith paused. "You mean that puff of cinnamon smoke was my security
clearance or something?"
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"Either that or a confirmation signal that you were logged onto the computer.
It may be that that tentacle was recording your scent or heartbeat or
something."
"That's ridiculous," Meredith snorted. "I can't possibly smell anything like a
Spinner."
"Maybe the data's been lost," Nichols suggested. "Maybe the Gorgon's Heads are
trying to reestablish it, using you as a prototype."
"But " Meredith closed his mouth. "Okay, let's put it to a real test, then.
That other squad of Gorgon's Heads must be downstairs by now. If they don't
give me any trouble, I'll concede you may be right."
He had to walk through the lobby and all the way around the base of the tower,
but by the time he started up the stairs again he was convinced.
"I don't believe it," he puffed as he entered the control room. "Damn things
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acted like a bunch of pet poodles took a sniff and then ignored me
completely." He turned to Barner, motioned him forward. "Let's see if it'll
accept you, too, Major."
It did; and in the end all five of them submitted to the Gorgon's Head's
olfactory inspection. "I still don't understand it," Barner shook his head as
the others cautiously tested their new immunity. "Why should their security
system be the only thing that's fallen apart after all this time?"
"
And fallen apart in just the right way to help us," Nichols added, gingerly
touching one of the Gorgon's Heads' shells. "It could just as easily have
decided to keep everyone out of the tower."
"It may not be nearly as providential as you think," Perez said. "You could
explain it just as well by a single minor failure plus a breakdown in
communications.
Suppose, for instance, that there's supposed to be a lock or independent
security scanner elsewhere in the building, and that system's broken down.
Now, these
Gorgon's Heads find us here; but since the other system shouldn't have let us
in if we weren't allowed, we must allowed. You see? And since the Gorgon's
Heads be don't have us on their VIP list, they hurry to remedy that gap in
their memory."
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"Clever idea," Hafner grunted. "But pretty stupid of the things."
Perez shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I've used the same technique myself. Once
you're actually inside a restricted place it's not too hard to stay there."
"Well, whatever the reason," Hafner shrugged, "being in the Gorgon's Heads'
good graces will come in handy when the anthropologists get here. I don't
suppose they'd like working with snakes looking over their shoulders."
Meredith frowned. "What anthropologists are these?"
"Should I have said linguists? The people who we're going to have to call in
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