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

row, however, he beckoned to Broward. Broward followed him, wondering what could be important enough to call him
from the meeting. Or was this move another trick by Scone? It was then that he saw Ingrid Nashdoi on a chair in the
back row. He raised his eyebrows and smiled when he was sure that she saw him. She smiled back and shrugged her
shoulders.
Outside the conference room, Scone said, "I just got a flash from the radar chief. Come with me to my office."
Broward followed him in. Scone sat down behind his desk and said, "A scoutship, one of our robots, finally
reported in. It was one of three. I sent one; and there was a Russian and Chinese ship, also. All three were to find out
what the situation on Mars is. All but ours must have been caught; anyway, they're overdue in their reports. The
Silverfish was able to take some pretty good pictures."
He made a steeple of his hands and looked straight ahead, through Broward. Broward fidgeted a while, then
said, finally, "Is it that bad?"
"Oh? Bad? Bad enough. Our Martian bases were really clobbered, though they didn't go out without a fight.
One of the South African bases was destroyed; on the surface, at least And there's evidence that Deimos was hit. So
badly, in fact, that the garrison didn't respond to the scout's presence. It made no effort to fire; it didn't even emit any
radar or lasers, none that the scout detected."
"So the Martian Axe is a definite threat?"
"More than that The scout also detected an immense fleet moving towards Mars, approximately ten million
miles away from it"
"It couldn't be ours," said Broward. "It would have come here first."
"Undoubtedly, it's the Argentinean main fleet, carrying Felipe Howards. Probably, the aristocracy of the Axe
Party and their families, too. Do you see what this means?"
Broward shook his head, and Scone continued. "It means that Howards planned to set off those cobalt
bombs. He intended to destroy all life on Earth and then rebuild a new society, an all-Axe world. It'll be started on
Mars, and, when Earth is ready for resettling, completed on Earth. A totally Spanish-speaking fascist world."
"He'd have to be a raving maniac to do that!" said Broward.
"He's a maniac all right, but he knows what he's doing and how to do it," said Scone. "The thing is, he hasn't
finished his job. He must know by now that his forces failed on the Moon, and he'll want to make sure of the Soviet
bases on Ganymede and Mercury, too. So, we can expect some action in the near future. The hell of it is, if that fleet is
as big as the scout reported, Howards has the muscle to beat us. He could lose half his fleet and still have twice as
many ships and missiles as we can muster. Plus the fact that his forces are unified. They don't have to guard against
each other while they're fighting the enemy."
"You didn't call me in here just to tell me this."
"Of course not. Bob, I have something special I want you to do."
Broward knew then that Scone was planning something of utmost importance and extreme danger. This was
the first time that he had ever called him by his first name. But there must be even more than that to cause him to do so.
Could it be that what Scone wanted him to do was so dangerous that even he hesitated to ask? Or was it something
else, something sinister in Scone's motive?
"The point is this," said Scone. "We are badly outnumbered and outweaponed. The Martians have every
advantage over us, aside, of course, from operating on the basis of an incorrect ideology. But I have never noticed
that being ideologically perverted kept any nation from being excellent fighters. I can say this in the privacy of my
office; I know that you would not think of repeating it."
"You said that the point is... ?"
"If the Martians bring their full weight against us, and I see no reason why they won't, we'll be wiped out. So,
we can strip the bases of all that the ships can carry and find a hiding place, a new colony. We might even all board
the Zemlya and take off for the stars, leaving the Axis in full possession of the solar system.
"I don't like to do that; in fact, I won't.
Two, we can beat the Martians to the punch. But there is only one way to do that. Somebody must go to
Earth and get the means to enable us to smash the Martians. More than that. Smash Mars!"
"I don't understand," said Broward. "Planetbuster," said Scone. "Did you ever hear of it?" -No."
"It isтАФwasтАФtop secret, but that, of course doesn't mean that word somehow wouldn't get around. The