Hellstrom's Hive (Frank Herbert) читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги (ч. 33)

Script consultation, Nils Hellstrom speaking.

On the screen, the audience will see a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. We will see much more and, in a deeper sense, we want the audience to see what we see, unconsciously. The butterfly personifies our own long struggle. It is the long darkness of humankind when the wild ones imagined they talked, one to another. It is the metamorphosis, the transformation of our Hive into the salvation of the human species. It foreshadows the day when we will emerge and show our beauty to the admiring universe.

“The transmitter is in his wristwatch,” Saldo said. “We caught it just before he turned the thing off.”

“Good work,” Hellstrom said.

They stood in the electronic gloom of the barn aerie, the security command post, workers going about their jobs quietly all around, a sense of determination in every movement. Nothing would get through this guard.

“Those probes we detected came from Steens Mountain,” Saldo said. “We’ve located the position on the chart.”

“Excellent. Is their lack of success igniting a renewed effort or are they quiet now?”

“Quiet. I’ve arranged to send a picnic party into the area tomorrow. They’ll play and enjoy themselves and report back tomorrow night. The party will be composed only of extremely experienced fronts.”

“Don’t count on them learning much.”

Saldo nodded agreement.

Hellstrom closed his eyes tightly in distress and fatigue. He couldn’t seem to get enough rest and what little he got failed to restore him. What they needed and would never find was a way to send Peruge packing, a way to answer all of his questions without answering them. Those mysterious, probing questions about metallurgy and new inventions irritated Hellstrom. What could that possibly have to do with Project 40? New invention—yes, possibly. But metallurgy? He decided to communicate his question to the lab at the earliest opportunity.