"David Drake - Hammer's Slammers 01 - Hammer's Slammers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

beneath them. "They can't move the cityтАФit's
here because of the river, floods or no. But for
twenty kilometers upstream, they've built con-
crete levees. When the tides peak every three
months or soтАФas they just didтАФthey close the
gates here and divert the river around Bamberg
City."

He pointed up the coast. "When the tide goes
down a little, they vent water through the main
channel again until everything's normal. In about
two days, they can let barges across to the space-
port."

The hovercar's door opened, filling the back
with the roar of the water jetting from a quarter
kilometer to either side. "Welcome to Bamberg
City," Desoix shouted over the background as he
motioned Tyi ahead of him.

The Slammers officer paused outside the vehi-
cle to slip on his pack again. Steel-mesh stairs
extended through the landing stage, up to the
plazaтАФbut down into the water as well: they did
not move with the stage or the tides, and they
were dripping and as slick as wet, polished metal
could be.

"No gear?" he asked his companion curiously.

Desoix waved his briefcase. "Some, but I'm
leaving it to be on-loaded with the gun. Remem-
ber, I'm travelling with a whole curst calliope."

"Well, you must be glad to have it back," said
Tyl as he gripped the slick railing before he at-
tempted the steps.

"Not as glad as my battery commander, Major
Borodin," Desoix said with a chuckle. "It was his
ass, not mine, if the Merrinet authorities had de -
cided to keep it till it grew whiskers."

"ButтАФ" he added over the clang of his boots
and Tyi's as they mounted the stairs, "тАФhe's not a
bad old bird, the Major, and he cuts me slack that
not every CO might be willing to do."

The stairs ended on a meter-wide walkway that
was part of the plaza but separated from it by a