[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

us. A big improvement over the earlier models. Unfortunately, as it is an island, it's easily
located no matter what cloud we wrap around ourselves."
Margiu realized with a start that they were talking about new stealth gear.
"Could it be used to cover a retreat in the aircraft? If we took the data and ran for the
mainland?"
"I suppose." The other man looked thoughtful. "We haven't tried it on aircraft . . . how much can
those planes lift?"
"I'll ask," the professor said. He glanced at Margiu, who headed for the door again. She passed
the question off to Lightfoot, and went back to the professor. In that brief interval, the
discussion had already turned too technical for her understanding, but it came to an abrupt end
when someone pounded on the door.
"Come in," the professor called.
Ty came in. "I've found two things one's a datalog showing transmissions to this station from
Stack Three five days ago. From Bacarion. I think someone here's on their payroll."
"Most likely," the professor said. "And?"
"And a transmission from orbit to this station, just now. Personal for Lieutenant Commander
Vinet."
"For Vinet! I'd never have guessed he was part of it," Swearingen said. "He's such a fusspot. Did
you answer it?"
"No, just acknowledged receipt, using the same sig code that was logged for reply to the others.
But I did take a look "
"Wasn't it encrypted?" someone asked.
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"Yah, but a simple one. Not hard to break. Thing is, he's not only part of it, they were telling
him they'd be coming down in a day or so, and not to worry that they'd prevented anyone from
sending word from the station. So here we are, nobody else knows what's going on."
Margiu spoke up. "We have to get word out somehow!"
The professor looked at her. "You're quite right, Ensign. And we have to keep them upstairs from
finding out that we're here, if possible, to give ourselves time to work to get word out somehow,
to destroy what we can't protect."
Margiu noticed that he didn't say "to get away safely."
"We'll need the troops that came with you, Gussie, to keep the baddies out of our hair."
"Right. Ty, did your guard come back with you?"
"No, I left him there to guard the equipment."
"Ensign, we'll need Major Garson." Margiu told Lightfoot, who hurried off, and in a minute or two
Garson appeared.
He listened to Ty's report, scowling. "I'll put Vinet under arrest, then. I wonder how many
baddies were with him."
"And I wonder how many are with you, sir," the professor said.
"None, I hope," Garson said. "Can you people take care of the rest of it?"
"Building a tightbeam with the power to a ship insystem, yes. Building a scan to locate such a
ship, yes. Destroy the more delicate research, and the records, yes. But it will take time, Major.
There are only fourteen of us, and some of the work is specialized enough that only one person can
do it. So we'd best get at it." He nodded to Garson, and the major withdrew. The professor turned
to the group. "One thing worries me."
"Only one?" Swearingen asked, grinning.
"If they don't know we're here, they won't be in as big a hurry to get down here . . . but when
the cloud cover goes, they'll be bound to take a look. And they'll see our transports sitting
there like a sign in capital letters: TROUBLE HERE."
"We could send them back," Swearingen said. "But then we'd be stuck here. Besides, the latent heat
would still show on a fine-grain IR scan."
"If you just want to hide the planes from scan," Bob said, "we can do that with Zed. Set it for
just those parameters. It'd be a good test "
"And if it fails, they'd not only know we were here, but they'd also know about Zed."
"It's a lot quicker to dismantle and destroy than the big guy," Bob said.
"How many more hours of darkness? And does anyone have a clue about the weather?" The professor
looked around the group.
"Local sunrise is at 8:13 tomorrow; it'll be light before that, of course, if it's clear."
"And we have no weathersats . . . but we can always go outside and look."
When they opened the door, a squad waited to accompany them. The professor told Ty to get back to
the communications shack; half the squad went with him. With the others he went outside to look at
the weather. Outside, a cold wet wind scoured the ground. Margiu stayed close to the professor,
looking up only once to see that no stars showed.
"I can't tell," the professor said finally. "Bob, go on and rig Zed to cover the planes. We'll
start dismantling the other stuff "
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"Professor " That was Major Garson. "We can't find Vinet, or several others. I want all of you
back inside, until we find him."
"That could take days," Swearingen said. "Some of the labs are underground, connected by tunnels."
"Ty's at the communications shack," the professor said. "He has guards, but "
A flare of light, followed in moments by a whoomp. Down the runway, one of the planes was blazing,
the flames shooting up to glow on the underside of the clouds.
"Great," Garson said. "They can spot that right through the cloud cover. Go on now get inside, get
under cover."
"Where's Lieutenant Lightfoot?" Margiu asked.
"I don't know he's not answering the com." Another, brighter flare of light painted one side of
the major's face, and another explosion rolled through the night. The second plane. "Ensign,
switch your PPU mask to enhanced, and get these civilians back under cover. That yellow jacket
makes a fine target."
Margiu fumbled for the mask controls, and hit suit reflectivity by mistake. Her suit turned
silver, then back to dark blue as she turned it off. Then she found the right set of buttons, and
instead of dark clouds and a distant fire, she was looking at a scene painted by someone with a
passion for shades of amber and orange. She could see little orange figures moving around, some
with green triangles for heads; the blazing fire looked black. As her eyes adjusted, she noticed
that the professor had a green triangle, and so did the NEMs around them.
Then a turquoise line stabbed across her vision, to crawl up the professor's sleeve toward his
head. Margiu threw herself at him, hooked a leg behind his, and they fell together as a shot
whined past and smacked into the armor of the NEM on the other side. He staggered, then all of the
NEMs dropped as one. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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