[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Cell, the panic fear of Butcher Korbeith. He said, "Gonnelson? Can you put me a
missile into that armed ship up ahead?" With no word, the man nodded. Tregare
said, "Then do it."
The missile was fast but Habbeger's ship was still spreading debris as Inconnu
flashed past it; some hit and clanged against
2!0
the hull. But not all of that ship was dead. Going away, Tregare felt Inconnu jerk and
shudder; its thrust fell away to less than half of max. "Mallory? What's wrong?"
The older man's voice sounded tired. "Their turrets didn't quit soon enough. Got
us across the Drive nodes. I think we can land once, if that damned tricky settlement
will let us. But I wouldn't bet more than even odds on that landing."
It took some tricky juggling, trying to balance the burned nodes against the aux
a
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Click here to buy
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ones. Long gone now, the two surviving UET ships-one probably damaged a lot, and
the other away free. Both unarmed, they were no danger to Inconnu-but now UET
would know of Shegler's Moon, and someday claim it. So that, Bran now realized,
was why Mace Henry and the whole place had been running scared; they'd been
retaken, was all, and trying to cover their own ass.
Not good enough, that excuse, or so Tregare saw it. If they'd trusted him, helped
him, things could have gone better.
Well. Relying on Mallory's advice, Bran eased Inconnu back toward Shegler's and
called the Port. Mace Henry answered, and told Inconnu, "We can't allow you back
here. The trouble-"
Blaine had been doing the talking; Tregare took over. "You haven't seen trouble
yet. You try to stop me landing, you give me any problems on Drive repairs, then
you'll see trouble." He was fuming, mad as hell and glad of it. He said, "Gonnelson?
Mallory? Can you two land this thing if I clear it at groundside?"
He got qualified assents, and turned to Jargy Hoad. "What you say, once this
bucket hits a good place to orbit, we take the scouts downside and show these closet
Uties how the cow ate the cabbage?"
Jargy grinned. "Sounds good to me."
Shegler's had no missiles worth worrying about. The scout-ships dodged them
easily enough, and Tregare saw them explode harmlessly, upstairs. "Jargy? Two
launching sites, I spotted. You see any more?"
"Just the two. I'll take the one nearest me."
The scouts projectors weren't in the same league with the ones ships carried, but
they did the job. Both missile sites went up, taking quite a lot of Shegler's soil
with them. Circling, waiting for the dust to settle or drift downwind,
211
Tregare spotted the ionization trails of projectors reaching up from groundside. Big
ones, too-But not geared for traverse fast enough to nail a scout. Bran yelled to
Jargy, and the two methodically wiped out the gun emplacements. Then Tregare
made three fast passes over the settlement, at speeds intended to break every
window in the place and maybe a few other things, and then two slow ones, to draw
fire from anyone who still had some. Nothing happened. "Looks like Sheglers has
shot its wad," said Jargy.
"Seems as if." He called up to Inconnu. "Gonnelson? I think it's safe to land now.
Let's see if you and Mallory can set yourselves down like a crate of eggs." No
answer, but after a while the ship's ID-beacon came in, signal strengthening, so he
knew it was on the way down.
Anything more, now? He first rejected the idea that came to him, then
reconsidered it. Item one: that Henry could've warned us. Item two: maybe these
people need a little more convincing.
So before he landed his scoutship, Tregare made one more pass, and blew the Port
Admin building purely all to hell.
The Port itself, it turned out, had been the government of Sheglers Moon. Now
there wasn't any. So while Inconnu sat, undergoing repairs, the only government was
Bran Tregare. The main item of business was refueling and repair of Inconnu, but he
did take time to ask who among the survivors had held down what kind of semi-
executive job previously, and made some appointments. To the woman he assigned to
replace the late Mace Henry, he said, "After I leave, you're in charge for just as long
as you can keep things under control. Can you?"
She pushed short, greying hair back from her thin face. "After the way you shot
hell out of us, what do you care? And what's the point? Now UET knows about us.
When they come back-"
"By groundside time, that'll be years from now. If they bother, even. Still-" He
thought about it. "In your shoes, I'd think in terms of evacuating. A few at a time,
whenever a ship comes in and has room to take some extra aboard." Pause.
"Guarantee me no Uties in the lot, I could take on maybe a dozen. More, if they're
real friendly and don't mind sleeping crowded." He shrugged. "Food, things like
that . . . they're no problem."
212
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Click here to buy
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She looked at him. "Suppose we did that. The last few left here . . . what do they
do?"
He knew what she meant, but that wasn't what he answered. "They blow the fuel
plant, so UET doesn't get the use of it."
She shook her head. "Tregare, you're a real monster. You know that?"
He couldn't let his hurt show. "Well, I had some help."
Before Mallory pronounced Inconnu's Drive solid again, Tregare did a little
trading, after all-remembering Number One's reputation for being interested in
new food plants, he swapped some electronic components for a few bags of seed. He
took aboard seventeen evacuees from Shegler's: mostly tech people, but also a
mother with two children. He wasn't too crazy about having kids loose in a ship, but
they behaved themselves all right. And finally, quite a bit later than he'd expected at
the time of landing, Bran lifted Inconnu off Shegler's Moon. Just out of atmo,
Gonnelson docked one scout and Jargy the other.
He picked his time so as to use the Venus-like primary for a vee-enhancing sling
turn that put him dead on for Number One-no need, on this leg, to take any [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl karpacz24.htw.pl
Cell, the panic fear of Butcher Korbeith. He said, "Gonnelson? Can you put me a
missile into that armed ship up ahead?" With no word, the man nodded. Tregare
said, "Then do it."
The missile was fast but Habbeger's ship was still spreading debris as Inconnu
flashed past it; some hit and clanged against
2!0
the hull. But not all of that ship was dead. Going away, Tregare felt Inconnu jerk and
shudder; its thrust fell away to less than half of max. "Mallory? What's wrong?"
The older man's voice sounded tired. "Their turrets didn't quit soon enough. Got
us across the Drive nodes. I think we can land once, if that damned tricky settlement
will let us. But I wouldn't bet more than even odds on that landing."
It took some tricky juggling, trying to balance the burned nodes against the aux
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
ones. Long gone now, the two surviving UET ships-one probably damaged a lot, and
the other away free. Both unarmed, they were no danger to Inconnu-but now UET
would know of Shegler's Moon, and someday claim it. So that, Bran now realized,
was why Mace Henry and the whole place had been running scared; they'd been
retaken, was all, and trying to cover their own ass.
Not good enough, that excuse, or so Tregare saw it. If they'd trusted him, helped
him, things could have gone better.
Well. Relying on Mallory's advice, Bran eased Inconnu back toward Shegler's and
called the Port. Mace Henry answered, and told Inconnu, "We can't allow you back
here. The trouble-"
Blaine had been doing the talking; Tregare took over. "You haven't seen trouble
yet. You try to stop me landing, you give me any problems on Drive repairs, then
you'll see trouble." He was fuming, mad as hell and glad of it. He said, "Gonnelson?
Mallory? Can you two land this thing if I clear it at groundside?"
He got qualified assents, and turned to Jargy Hoad. "What you say, once this
bucket hits a good place to orbit, we take the scouts downside and show these closet
Uties how the cow ate the cabbage?"
Jargy grinned. "Sounds good to me."
Shegler's had no missiles worth worrying about. The scout-ships dodged them
easily enough, and Tregare saw them explode harmlessly, upstairs. "Jargy? Two
launching sites, I spotted. You see any more?"
"Just the two. I'll take the one nearest me."
The scouts projectors weren't in the same league with the ones ships carried, but
they did the job. Both missile sites went up, taking quite a lot of Shegler's soil
with them. Circling, waiting for the dust to settle or drift downwind,
211
Tregare spotted the ionization trails of projectors reaching up from groundside. Big
ones, too-But not geared for traverse fast enough to nail a scout. Bran yelled to
Jargy, and the two methodically wiped out the gun emplacements. Then Tregare
made three fast passes over the settlement, at speeds intended to break every
window in the place and maybe a few other things, and then two slow ones, to draw
fire from anyone who still had some. Nothing happened. "Looks like Sheglers has
shot its wad," said Jargy.
"Seems as if." He called up to Inconnu. "Gonnelson? I think it's safe to land now.
Let's see if you and Mallory can set yourselves down like a crate of eggs." No
answer, but after a while the ship's ID-beacon came in, signal strengthening, so he
knew it was on the way down.
Anything more, now? He first rejected the idea that came to him, then
reconsidered it. Item one: that Henry could've warned us. Item two: maybe these
people need a little more convincing.
So before he landed his scoutship, Tregare made one more pass, and blew the Port
Admin building purely all to hell.
The Port itself, it turned out, had been the government of Sheglers Moon. Now
there wasn't any. So while Inconnu sat, undergoing repairs, the only government was
Bran Tregare. The main item of business was refueling and repair of Inconnu, but he
did take time to ask who among the survivors had held down what kind of semi-
executive job previously, and made some appointments. To the woman he assigned to
replace the late Mace Henry, he said, "After I leave, you're in charge for just as long
as you can keep things under control. Can you?"
She pushed short, greying hair back from her thin face. "After the way you shot
hell out of us, what do you care? And what's the point? Now UET knows about us.
When they come back-"
"By groundside time, that'll be years from now. If they bother, even. Still-" He
thought about it. "In your shoes, I'd think in terms of evacuating. A few at a time,
whenever a ship comes in and has room to take some extra aboard." Pause.
"Guarantee me no Uties in the lot, I could take on maybe a dozen. More, if they're
real friendly and don't mind sleeping crowded." He shrugged. "Food, things like
that . . . they're no problem."
212
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f
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m
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Y
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Y
Y
r
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.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
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.
.
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A
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r r
She looked at him. "Suppose we did that. The last few left here . . . what do they
do?"
He knew what she meant, but that wasn't what he answered. "They blow the fuel
plant, so UET doesn't get the use of it."
She shook her head. "Tregare, you're a real monster. You know that?"
He couldn't let his hurt show. "Well, I had some help."
Before Mallory pronounced Inconnu's Drive solid again, Tregare did a little
trading, after all-remembering Number One's reputation for being interested in
new food plants, he swapped some electronic components for a few bags of seed. He
took aboard seventeen evacuees from Shegler's: mostly tech people, but also a
mother with two children. He wasn't too crazy about having kids loose in a ship, but
they behaved themselves all right. And finally, quite a bit later than he'd expected at
the time of landing, Bran lifted Inconnu off Shegler's Moon. Just out of atmo,
Gonnelson docked one scout and Jargy the other.
He picked his time so as to use the Venus-like primary for a vee-enhancing sling
turn that put him dead on for Number One-no need, on this leg, to take any [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]