John Ringo Council War 01 There will be Dragons

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."I need to get you laid out again." He first sat the fighter down on a benchthen laid out some leather mats before lowering him to the floor."Carborundum!""Not a good situation, is it, O meat bag?" the AI said, sticking its head outof the blast furnace."What in the hell is going on?" Edmund asked, as he searched frantically forsomething that was reasonably clean to place on the wound.Finally he settledfor a fresh batch of cosilk waste and pressed it into the mess on Harry's leg."Why are you responding and the genies aren't?""The Net is down," the AI replied."The Council is fighting amongst itself.They're diverting all power, and all processing power, to that.am anindependent entity."I"Oh.hell," Harry groaned."No bloody nannites?""Nope," the AI said."Not unless something falls out quick.You're not theonly ones who are in a bad way; nobody has any power anywhere.That means no food, no water, no light.Things are starting to get bad already.""Paul's coup," Edmund muttered, looking around the forge."What?" Harry asked."Sheida told me that Paul might be planning a coup.We discussed means ofPage 62ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmldefense.Carb, where do the AI's stand?""Most of them are sitting it out," the AI replied frankly."The only thingthat can destroy us is theCouncil, acting in concert.Whichever faction wins will come down hard on theloser's supporters.""Where do you stand?" Edmund asked, wrapping a leather strap around hisfriend's thigh to keep the cosilk in place."I've read Bowman's manifesto," the AI said, acidly."I don't think so.""Can read it?" Edmund asked, standing up.I"I could read it you," Carb said."But I can't produce it.I'm.somewhatlacking in power to myself.""How bad is it?""Well.how much charcoal do you have?" the AI asked."Not all that much," Edmund admitted."We're towards the end of the cycle.Butif I parcel it out.""If I drop below eight hundred degrees C, I'm toast," Carb said, bluntly."Or,rather, I'm not toast, so I'm dead.""Dead, dead, or quiescent?" Harry asked."I might be able to back up a few functions, but I'm not sure I'll recover,"the AI admitted."Call itmostly dead and maybe unrecoverable without a miracle.Which doesn't looklikely right now.By the way, Sheida is calling in all her markers; you'regoing to get a call soon.""I've got to see to Harry," Edmund responded."Then to the village.I'll talkto her when I have to."He turned to Harry and waggled a finger at him."Don't you die while I'mgone!""I'll try not to," Harry said weakly.Edmund trotted across the courtyard, the weight of his armor virtuallyunnoticed, and entered a side door of the house.Down a corridor in along-unopened storeroom he pulled open a locker and rummaged to the bottom.There he found a pack and dragged it out.A quick check of the contentssufficed and he ran back to where the injured fighter was lying."I didn't know you knew any AI's," Harry said when he entered.The injuredfighter's color was, if anything, a tad better."It wasn't supposed to be general knowledge," Carb said."But, all thingsconsidered."Edmund unbuckled Harry's armor and started stripping off the pants."Edmund, I never knew you cared," Harry joked, helping with the heavy steel."It would be easier if I stood up.""It would be harder if you passed out," Edmund replied, pulling the armor awayfrom the wound.The cosilk padding was quickly cut with a belt-knife, then he opened up thegreen backpack and started rummaging through packages."What's all that?" Harry asked with a tone of deep interest."Very old fashioned medical gear," Edmund replied, withdrawing a bottle ofantiseptic and some small, clear packages."This is gonna hurt," he said in an offhand manner as he poured much of thecontents of the bottle of brown liquid into the wound and onto his hands."JESUS ON A CRUTCH!" Harry yelled, practically sitting up.But he didn't batthe bottle away."What was that?""Something called 'betadyne' that they used to use back in the ooold days,"Edmund replied."It's okay, next we're talking really medieval medicine," hecontinued, pulling a curved needle out of one package and a long piece ofstring out of the other.Page 63ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Is that what Ithink it is?" Harry asked."Would you prefer some boiling pitch?" Edmund asked.He pulled some clamps outof the bag and shut the wound, then began applying the suturing needle."Imean, that would be really period.Nothing like a nice cauterization to startthe day.""No," Harry replied, gasping as Edmund tied off the first suture."Stitchingis just fine.Antique, but fine.""Hell of a lot of damage to the quad, here, buddy," Edmund said, putting inanother stitch."Sorry about that.""No way you could have known," Harry said with another gasp."Tying them off is the hardest part," Edmund commented [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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