may I show the good General your secret?"
61 "Must you?" asked Blazing Comet. "I've heard he doesn't particularly
care for my kind."
62 "I really think it's necessary," assured North 2. Blazing Comet
shrugged, pulled up his jacket, and, shirt. North 2 placed his hands on
either side of Blazing Comet's chest and pressed his fingers in certain
places. Invisible seams opened, revealing two panels that swung out.
Mounted on the panels were sophisticated readout boards and control
systems.
63 "Good Lords!" gasped North, "He's a mechanical!"
64 "We prefer synthetic life form," put in Blazing Comet.
65 "What's the power supply?" asked North.
66 "Standard crystalline batteries," explained North 2, "recharged by a
matter/energy converter."
67 "A matter/energy converter?" gasped North, "THAT SMALL?"
68 "Droidtronics is my specialty," the woman announced, not looking at
any of them. "He's my greatest achievement, but highly impractical,
though. He is a prototype and it would be economically unfeasible to
produce them in mass quantities. However, he served his purpose."
69 North 2 closed Blazing Comet's chest. "Still," commented North, "he
might have components that would vastly improve our droids. "
70 "You'll never get the information from us," snapped the woman.
71 ''I have a complete knowledge of my working system," put in Blazing
Comet. "I would be more than glad to assist you in improving my fellow
mechanicals!"
72 The woman jumped to her feet. "DAMN you!" she snapped, "Damn you!
Must you, too, betray me? Do I have nothing left?"
73 The mechanical, too, came to his feet. "To see to it