Fleet of the Damned by Chris Bunch; Allan Cole Read Free Book Online Page A

crash-landed on a certain planetoid. This planetoid has acceptable atmosphere and water. But there is nothing to eat and very little which can be made into shelter."
    Ferrari smiled.
    "Any of you who are eco-trained, do not bother to explain how illogical this planetoid must be. I do not set up these problems, I merely administer them.
    "At any rate, you see this control room we are standing in? Yes. Terribly ruined by the crash. You see this open hatchway, exiting onto the planetoid, which is quite colorfully provided.
    "Personally, I must say that I do not believe that trees can ever be purple. But I wander. Mr. Mason, would you care to continue?"
    "Thank you, sir.
    "I'll cut it short. You losers have crashed. The only way you're gonna live is by getting your survival kits out. The kits are down this passageway. You got two problems—the passageway is blocked."
    No kidding, Sten thought, staring down the corridor. He admired how carefully the problem had been set up. As they entered the huge chamber, it did look as if half of a ship was crashed into a jungle, crumpled and battered.
    The inside of the ship was, with some exceptions—and Sten was noting those exceptions carefully—exactly like the flight deck and nearby passageways of a destroyer.
    Sten wondered why, before the IPs had led the group into the chamber, Mason had taken Bishop aside and told him something—something very important from the way that Grunt had reacted.
    Mason continued. "Second problem is that the power plant is in a self-destruct mode. You've got twenty minutes until this ship blows higher'n Haman.
    "If you don't get to your supplies, you fail the problem. All of you.
    "If you're still working on the problem when the twenty minutes run out, you fail the problem. All of you."
    "Thank you, Mr. Mason."
    "Yessir."
    "The problem begins… now!"
    There was a stammer of ideas.
    Victoria had cut in—clot everything. What did they have to take out?
    Grunt had said that was stupid—first they needed some kind of plan.
    Lotor said that if they didn't know how deep the drakh was, how could any plan be possible?
    The situation was simple. The corridor to the survival kits was blocked by assorted ship rubble that could be easily cleared. But x-ed across the corridor were two enormous steel beams, impossible to move without assistance.
    Two candidates proved that, straining their backs trying to wedge the beams free.
    Lotor was standing beside a much smaller beam in the corridor ahead of the blockage.
    "This," he said, "might make a lever. If we had a fulcrum."
    "Come on, Lotor," Grunt put in. "We don't have any clottin' fulcrum."
    "Hell we don't," Victoria said. "Couple of you clowns grab that big chart chest up on the flight deck."
    "Never work," Bishop said.
    Sten eyed him. What the hell was the matter with Grunt? Normally he was the first to go for new ideas. While two men shoved the map chest down toward the block, Sten did his own recon around the "ship."
    By the time he came back to the corridor, the map chest sat close to the blocking beams. The small beam went under one, and everybody leaned.
    The first beam lifted, swiveled, and crashed sideways. The team gave a minor cheer and moved their lever forward.
    "This is not going to work," Bishop said.
    Another candidate stepped back. "You're probably right."
    He spotted a red-painted panel in the metal corridor, clearly marked ENVIRONMENT CONTROL INSPECTION POINT . Do not enter without Class 11 Clearance. Do not enter unless ship is deactivated .
    The candidate shoved the panel open. A ductway led along the corridor's path.
    "Okay. This is it," the candidate announced.
    "Didn't you read the panel?" Sten asked.
    "So? This ship's about as deactivated as possible."
    "You're right," Bishop agreed.
    Again, Sten wondered.
    The candidate forced himself into the ductway. The panel clicked closed behind him. After five seconds, they heard a howl of pain.
    The demons who set up the Selection tests had provided