"Philip Jose Farmer - Riverworld 2 - The Fabulous Riverboat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

defend him, and Clemens was to defend Miller to the
death. So far, the titanthrop had done all the battling. But
then he was more than big enough for two.
Bloodaxe's dislike of Miller was caused by envy.
Bloodaxe fancied himself as the world's greatest fighter
and yet knew that Miller would have no more trouble
dispatching him in combat than Miller would with a dog.
And with a small dog at that.
Erik Bloodaxe gave his battle orders, which were
transmitted to the other two ships by flashes of sunlight off
obsidian mirrors. The ships would keep sails up and try to
steer between the galleys. This would be difficult because
a ship might have to change course to avoid ramming and

so lose the wind. Also, each ship would thrice be subjected
to crossfire.
"The wind's with them," Clemens said. "Their rockets
will have more range until we're among them."
"Teach your grandmother to suck . . ." Bloodaxe said
and stopped.
Some bright objects on the cliff-tops had left their posi-
tions and now were swooping through the air in a path that
would bring them close above the Vikings. The Norsemen
shouted with bewilderment and alarm, but Clemens
recognized them as gliders. In as few words as possible, he
explained to Bloodaxe. The king started to relay the in-
formation to the other Vikings but had to stop because the
lead galleys fired off the first volley of rockets. Wobbling,
trailing thick black smoke, ten rockets arced toward the
three sailships. These changed course as quickly as possi-
ble, two almost colliding. Some of the rockets almost
struck the masts or the hulls, but none hit and all splashed
unexploded, falling into The River.
By then the first of the gliders made its pass. Slim-
fuselaged, long-winged, with black Maltese crosses on the
sides of its slim and silvery fuselage, it dived at a 45-
degree angle toward the Dreyrugr. The Norsemen archers
bent their yew bows and, at a command from the chief
archer, loosed their shafts.
The glider swooped low over the water, several arrows
sticking out of the fuselage, and it settled down for a land-
ing on The River. It had failed to drop its bombs on the
Dreyrugr. They were somewhere below the surface of The
River.
But now other gliders were coming in at all three ships,
and the enemy lead galleys had loosed another flight of
rockets. Clemens glanced at their own rocket-launcher.
The big blond crew-women were swiveling the tube under
the command of small dark Temah, but she was not ready
to touch the fuse. The Dreyrugr was not yet within range