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reached the travelers before they
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html were close enough to get a good look
at the town itself.
Tomb Town occupied a free zone almost a kilometer square.
Unfortunately, the
Maracandan sky above consisted of a solid dome of breakdown, preventing the
establishment of any kind of spaceport, or even the erection of buildings more
than
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html three or four stories high.
Harry supposed that the difficulty of getting to these remote towns only made
them more attractive to certain people. Occupying a slice of precious space at
the rim of the Tomb
Town free zone was a vast but inconspicuous recycling plant, a large-
scale version of the system that produced gourmet wonders on
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html
Harry's ship. Harry supposed the plant was kept in steady operation.
Hydrogen to keep its power lamps alive could be pried loose from the
Maracandan substrate.
Even at first glance, Tomb Town radiated a crude energy that had been missing
from Port
City. The loading dock was bustling with traffic coming and going from
Minersville, only a few
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html kilometers away.
It seemed clear that this settlement was considerably smaller than Port City,
but it showed signs of rapid growth, including heavy pedestrian traffic on the
streets visible from the main gate. A map posted at the gate suggested that
the town was laid out in an odd plan, doubtless to take advantage of as much
of
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html the free zone as possible.
The caravan only stopped here briefly, for partial unloading, and would soon
be rolling on along the road to
Minersville.
Actually, before the caravan had fully stopped, a small rush of men and women,
traders and prospectors, were jumping off the moving wagons. The object of the
rush was to get as
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html quick a look as possible at the latest
version of a map showing what lands were still considered available. Dealers
in land had sprung into existence, and with the blessing of the public office
were subdividing lots.
Bulaboldo on the other hand was in no hurry and seemed scornful of anyone who
had to rush around like that just to
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html meet someone else's schedule.
A large and badly faded banner of plain dumb cloth said WELCOME
above the symbolically gated entrance to the town. From what Harry could see
of the settlement, it looked a bigger place than he had, for some reason, been
expecting.
Harry held back a little from the rush to
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html disembark, preferring to avoid the
crush of bodies at the exit door. A
few passengers, unwilling to wait in line, were just leaping out over the
car's low sides.
But Lily was in the forefront of those using the designed way out, with some
of the business-suited passengers giving her the most competition.
The business people seemed to be even more
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Fred Saberhagen - Berserker's Star.html eager to get off than the religious
pilgrims, as if another half minute or so might make all the difference in the
kind of claim they would be allowed to file.
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