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some traces of human pres-
ence on the ground.
After that, all the smugglers had stayed prudently away.
Someone was working over there, and whether their project was legitimate or
illegitimate, it was certain that they would not welcome visitors.
The smuggler seemed to
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html be thinking that as soon as Harry got
what he considered his duty out of his system, the sooner they could lift off.
And Harry's absence would allow time for some loading.
In the meantime, Bulaboldo must have given some kind of signal, for several of
his remaining helpers, daring to appear without special armor, came into
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html view, staggering as they walked,
bearing sacks of grit. At Kul's crisp orders they dropped their burdens on the
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ground, where they could be quickly loaded on the ship as soon as Harry gave
approval.
But Harry wasn't listening. Stubby carbine cradled in his right arm, he was
loping away from the smugglers, hoping to catch up with the two
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html gung-ho Templar training graduates
before they met disaster.
At the moment
Teagarden and Zhong were not having much to say, not even to each other.
Despite the heavy armor's bulk, a man could run a lot faster with its help
than without it. The path took Harry around the corner of a sharply geometric
cliff,
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html out of sight of the ship.
Lily would not be able to offer him any support, even if he trusted her to
work the weapons.
TWENTY- ONE
Before he had taken a dozen more strides, what sounded like a real firefight
burst out not far ahead, gunblasts blurring briefly into a continuous roar.
Harry ran faster, the
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html power in the suit's legs giving him
gazelle-like speed. He kept reminding himself that he should be in no
immediate danger of running into a breakdown zone, not just here. Because the
Templars had made it this far, and a little farther on, Private
Zhong's tin man was walking.
Crouching, Harry
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html rounded a corner of sharply angled
Maracandan rock and came in sight of the cave entrance Bulaboldo had
mentioned, a dark, broad hole. Harry was just in time for the end of the fight
the two Templars had been making, though he couldn't see it clearly. The
echoing racket of heavy shoulder weapons had died away, the dust of the latest
chain of explosions still
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html hung in the mild air, over the sides
of a couple of steep, almost pillarlike
Maracandan hills, just forcibly remodeled.
Another burst of gunfire rang, and suddenly
Harry's helmet radio was squawking, with a desperate call for help.
He couldn't tell whether the voice was
Teagarden's or Zhong's.
Harry kept his answer short, in the tone of a
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html cautious reprimand: "My orders are to
remain on the ship." Maybe the damned thing would hear that, maybe it would
even believe it.
The Templar's words broke off in screams, and the screams trailed off, then
came back, at lower volume& only to fade again.
Harry eased his way along until he could see the entire cave mouth, a
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