"Philip Jose Farmer - Tongues of the Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

them, and they were informed of what was expected of them. Even Broward was startled, but didn't protest.
After the weapons had been placed in the destroyers, Scone ordered the military into his office one at a time.
And, one at a time, they were disarmed and escorted by another door to the arsenal and locked in. Three of the
soldiers asked to join Scone, and he accepted two. Several protested furiously and denounced Scone as a traitor.
Then, Scone had the civilians assembled in the large auditorium (Technically, all personnel were in the
military, but the scientists were only used in that capacity during emergencies.) Here, he told them what he had done,
what he planned to doтАФexcept for one thingтАФand asked them if they wished to enlist. Again, he got a violent
demonstration from some and sullen silence from others. These were locked up in the arsenal.
The others were sworn in, except for one man. Whiteside. Broward pointed him out as an agent and informer
for both the Russians and Chinese. Scone admitted that he had not known about the triple-dealer, but he took
Broward's word and had Whiteside locked up, too.
Then, the radios of the two scout ships were smashed, and the prisoners marched out and jammed into them.
Scone told them they were free to fly to the Russian base. Within a few minutes, the scouts hurtled away from Clavius
towards the north.
"But, Colonel," said Broward, "they can't give the identifying code to the Russians. They'll be shot down."
"They are traitors; they prefer the Russky to us. Better for us if they are shot down. They'll not fight for
Ivan."
Broward did not have much appetite when he sat down to eat and to listen to Scone's detailing of his plan.
"The Zemlya," he said, "has everything we need to sustain us here. And to clothe the Earth with vegetation
and replace her animal life in the distant future when the radiation is low enough for us to return. Her deepfreeze tanks
contain seeds and plants of thousands of different species of vegetation. They also hold, in suspended animation, the
bodies of cattle, sheep, horses, rabbits, dogs, cats, fowl, birds, useful insects and worms. The original intention was to
reanimate these and use them on any Terrestrial-type planet the Zemlya might find.
"Now our bases here are self-sustaining. But, when the time comes to return to Earth, we must have
vegetation and animals. Otherwise, what's the use?
"So, whoever holds the Zemlya holds the key to the future. We must be the ones who hold that key. With it,
we can bargain; the Russians and the Chinese will have to agree to independence if they want to share in the seeds
and livestock."
"What if the Zemlya's commander chooses destruction of his vessel rather than surrender?" said Broward.
"Then, all of humanity will be robbed. We'll have no future."
"I have a plan to get us aboard the Zemlya without violence."
An hour later, the four USAF destroyers accelerated outwards towards Earth. Their radar had picked up the
Zemlya; it also had detected five other Unidentified Space Objects. These were the size of their own craft
Abruptly, the Zemlya radioed that it was being attacked. Then, silence. No answer to the requests from
Eratosthenes for more information.
Scone had no doubt about the attackers' identity. "The Axis leaders wouldn't have stayed on Earth to die," he
said. They'll be on their way to their big base on Mars. Or, more likely, they have the same idea as us. Capture the
Zemlya."
"And if they do?" said Broward.
"We take it from them."
The four vessels continued to accelerate in the great curve which would take them out away from the Zemlya
and then would bring them around towards the Moon again. Their path was computed to swing them around so they
would come up behind the interstellar ship and overtake it. Though the titanic globe was capable of eventually
achieving far greater speeds than the destroyers, it was proceeding at a comparatively slow velocity. This speed was
determined by the orbit around the Moon into which the Zemlya intended to slip.
In ten hours, the USAF complement had curved around and were about 10,000 kilometers from the Zemlya.
Their speed was approximately 20,000 kilometers an hour at this point, but they were decelerating. The Moon was
bulking larger; ahead of them, visible by the eye, were two steady gleams. The Zemlya and the only Axis vessel which
had not been blown to bits or sliced to fragments. According to the Zemlya, which was again in contact with the
Russian base, the Axis ship had been cut in two by a tongue from Zemlya.