"David Drake - Hammer's Slammers 02 - Cross The Stars (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

тАЬTerziaтАЩs a full seventy Transit minutes away from us,тАЭ Pritchard said flatly. тАЬThey may think theyтАЩre far enough
away to be safe, so they donтАЩt have to listen to us.тАЭ
 Hammer turned. He was no longer the paunchy ruler of a complex industrial world. He was a commander whose
troops had stormed Hell a score of times before and might do it again.
тАЬIf they wonтАЩt listen to us, theyтАЩll listen to our guns, wonтАЩt they?тАЭ Hammer said. His voice was as hard and sincere
as the bow of the tank behind him. тАЬSlade broke up a Guards Regiment with one tank company and a battalion of
half-trained militia. If the Guards had taken the port behind us, Danny, you and I wouldnтАЩt be standing here, would
we? Though our skulls might still be on poles out front.тАЭ
Pritchard shrugged like a dragonfly beginning to pull free of its cocoon of soft, cream fabric. тАЬIтАЩd roughed out
some contingency plans,тАЭ he said as he turned to the door. тАЬIтАЩll work on specific movement orders while Margritte
tries to get a connection with Terzia.тАЭ
тАЬTell them,тАЭ Hammer called to his AdjutantтАЩs back, тАЬthat I donтАЩt know if we can release Don Slade alive by force.
But IтАЩll promise to burn their planet for his funeral pyre if we canтАЩt.тАЭ
For some moments after the door closed, Hammer continued to stand where he was: silhouetted against the bow
of the tank.
 CHAPTER TWO

The Citadel was a spike in relief against the mottled turquoise sky. There was no bulky starship on the landing
platform beside the tower.
Don Slade swore very mildly, his voice as leaden as his heart. He stepped aside to let the work gang pass him as
the trail dipped back into the jungle.
This was the one vantage point on the trailтАЩs length. Slade had cradled the short barrel of his powergun in the
crook of his left arm as he marched ahead of the column. Now he held the weapon vertical for safety. The butt was
against his hip, and the muzzle touched at eyebrow height the tree against which the tanker leaned wearily.
Bedyle, the foreman, stopped beside his superior. тАЬProblems, sir?тАЭ the lightly-built humanoid asked in Spaceways
English. The language differed radically from the version of English Slade had learned to speak as a boy on Tethys,
but itтАФSpanglishтАФprovided a medium of trade throughout the human universe . . . and beyond that universe, as on
Terzia. Though it was sometimes difficult for Slade to remember that he and the Terzia herself were the only two
humans on the planet.
тАЬNo problem, Bedyle,тАЭ Slade said. тАЬNothing new, at any rate. ThereтАЩs just no ship. Still.тАЭ
SladeтАЩs black hair was cropped short on his head and jaw for comfort. Hair coiled like strands of honeysuckle
over his bare chest and splashed down his limbs to the backs of his hands and feet. From a distance, he had a bestial
appearance which the calm of his expression belied. Slade was taller by forty centimeters than the tallest of the work
gang; taller and stronger besides than most of the humans whom he had met in a life of knocking about the universe.
тАЬYou know, Bedyle . . .тАЭ the big man said. His eyes were on the distant spire, but his mind was much farther
away. тАЬYouтАЩd think after nine days in the copper-pod jungle, that place would look good. But . . . if there was a
Palamede slave-ship docked there, IтАЩd ship out in its hold before IтАЩd take another step through the gate of the
Citadel.тАЭ
тАЬYour life is so very bad, then?тАЭ the foreman asked softly.
The workers were filing past, chanting something melodious and without meaning. Slade had been unable in a
year to learn a word of the native language. The Terzia swore that when her ancestors had landed on the planet, the
autochthones already spoke Spanglish. There was no reason to believe that she was lying . . . or that she was telling
the truth, for that matter. Slade had no way to judge the TerziaтАЩs statements.
The locals, males and females alike, carried fifty-kilo burdens of copper-pods without signs that their frail-looking
bodies were being strained. They were nude. Only in the greenish cast underlying their brown skins, and in the lack
of external genitals in the males, were they demonstrably inhuman.
Slade had personal experience of the human characteristics of some of the females.
тАЬBad?тАЭ Don Slade said, echoing the foreman. The sounds of lesser animals seeped from the jungle and merged
with the voices of the work gang. тАЬVia, no, Bedyle. Life isnтАЩt bad. IтАЩve got every luxury I could dream of, and the
most beautiful woman IтАЩve ever met. IтАЩve got a job IтАЩm needed atтАФтАЭ he nodded toward the workers he supervised