"Harrison, Harry - Deathworld 1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

Plies was watching him now and he knew they shared the same thoughts. "Explain yourself," Plies said. "What did you mean when you said we could wipe out the junkmen and get our freedom?"
Jason didn't bother to correct the misquote; it was best they consider him a hundred percent on their side.
"Get the others together and I'll tell you. I particularly want to see Naxa and any other talkers who are here."
They gathered quickly when the word was passed. All of them knew that the junkman had been killed to save this off-wonder, that their hope of salvation lay with him. Jason looked at the crowd of faces turned toward him and reached for the right words to tell them what had to be done. It didn't help to know that many of them would be killed doing
-~ it.

"We all want to see an end to the war here on Pyrrus. There is a way, but it will cost human lives. Some of you may die doing it. I think the price is worth it, because success will bring you everything you have ever wanted." He looked around at the tense, waiting circle.
'We are going to invade the city, break through the perimeter. I know how it can be done. . .
A mutter of sound spread across the crowd. Some of them looked excited, happy with the thought of Idiling their hereditary enemies. Others stared at Jason as if he were mad. A few were dazed at the magnitude of the thought, this carrying of the battle to the stronghold of the heavily armed enemy. They quieted when Jason raised his hand.
"I know it sounds impossible," he said. "But let me explain. Something must be done-and now is the time to do it. The situation can only get worse from now on. The city Pyrr. . . the junkmen can get along without your food, their concentrates taste awful but they sustain life. But they are going to turn against you in every way they can. No more metals for your tools or replacements for your electronic equipment. Their hatred will probably make them seek out your farms and destroy them from the ship. All of this won't be comfortable-and there will be worse to come. In the city they are losing their war against this planet. Each year there are less of them, and some day they will all be dead. Knowing how they feel, I am sure they will destroy their ship first, and the entire planet as well, if that is possible."
"How can we stop them?" someone called out.
"By hitting now," Jason answered. "I know all the details of the city and I know how the defenses are set up. Their perimeter is designed to protect them from animal life, but we could break through it if we were really determуned."
'What good would that do?" Plies snapped. "We crack the perimeter and they draw back-then counterattack in force. How can we stand against their weapons?"
"We won't have to. Their spaceport touches the perimeter, and I know the exact spot where the ship stands. That is the place where we will break through. There is no formal guard on the ship and only a few people in the area. We will capture the ship. Whether we can fly it or not is unimportant. Who controls the ship controls Pyrrus. Once there we threaten to destroy it if they don't meet our terms. They have the choice of mass suicide or cooperation. I hope they have the brains to cooperate."
His words shocked them into silence for an instant, then they surged into a wave of sound. There was no agreement, just excitement, and Plies finally brought them to order.
"Quiet!" he shouted. 'Wait until Jason finishes before you decide. We still haven't heard how this proposed invasion is to be accomplished."
"The plan I have depends on the talkers," Jason said. "Is Naxa there?" He waited until the fur-wrapped man had pushed to the front. "I want to know more about the talkers, Naxa. I know you can speak to doryms and the dogs here-but what about the wild animals? Can you make them do what you want?"
"They're animals-course we can talk t' them. Th' more talkers, th' more power. Make 'em do just what we want."
"Then the attack will work," Jason said excitedly. "Could you get your talkers all on one side of the city-the opposite side from the spaceport-and stir the animals up? Make them attack the perimeter?"
"Could we!" Naxa shouted, carried away by the idea. "We'd bring in animals from all over, start th' biggest attack they ev'r saw!"
"Then that's it. Your talkers will launch the attack on the far side of the perimeter. If you keep out of sight, the guards will have no idea that it is anything more than an animal attack. I've seen how they work. As an attack mounts, they call for reserves inside the city and drain men away from the other parts of the perimeter. At the height of the battle, when they have all their forces committed across the city, I'll lead the attack that will break through and capture the ship. That's the plan and it's going to work."
Jason sat down then, half fell down, drained of strength. He lay and
listened as the debate went back and forth, Plies ordering it and kee1 ing it going. Difficulties were raised and eliminated. No one could fin a basic fault with the plan. There were plenty of flaws in it, things th~ might go wrong, but Jason didn't mention them. These people wante his idea to work and they were going to make it work.
It finally broke up and they moved away. Rhes came over to Jason.
"The basics are settled," he said. "All here are in agreement. The are spreading the word by messenger to all the talkers. The talkers ai the heart of the attack, and the more we have, the better it will go of We don't dare use the screens to call them; there is a good chance th~ the junkmen can intercept our messages. It will take five days before i~ are ready to go ahead."
"I'll need all of that time if I'm to be any good," Jason said. "Now let get some rest."
.





26
"It's a strange feeling," Jason said. "I've never really seen the perimeter from this side before. Ugly is about the only word for it."
He lay on his stomach next to Plies, looking through a screen of leaves, downhill toward the perimeter. They were both wrapped in heavy furs, in spite of the midday heat, with thick leggings and leather gauntlets to protect their hands. The gravity and the heat were already making Jason dizzy, but he forced himself to ignore this.
Ahead, on the far side of a burnt corridor, stood the perimeter. A high wall, of varying height and texture, seemingly made of all the odds and ends in the world. It was impossible to tell what it had originally been constructed of. Generations of attackers had bruised, broken, and underniined it. Repairs had been quickly made, patches thrust roughly into place and fixed there. Crude masonry crumbled and gave way to a rat's nest of woven timbers. This overlapped a length of pitted metal, large plates riveted together. Even this metal had been eaten through and bursting sandbags spilled out of a jagged hole. Over the surface of the wall detector wires and charged cables looped and hung. At odd intervals automatic flamethrowers thrust their nozzles over the parapet above and swept the base of the wall clear of any life that might have come close.
"Those flame things can cause us trouble," Rhes said. "That one covers the area where you want to break in."
"It'll be no problem," Jason assured him. "It may look like it is firing a random pattern, but it's really not. It varies a simple sweep just enough to fool an animal, but was never meant to keep men out. Look for yourself. It fires at regularly repeated two, four, three and one minute intervals."
They crawled back to the hollow where Naxa and the others waited for them. There were only thirty men in the party. What they had to do could only be done with a fast, light force. Their strongest weapon was surprise. Once that was gone their other weapons wouldn't hold out for seconds against the city guns. Everyone looked uncomfortable in
the fur and leather wrappings, and some of the men had loosened them to cool off.
'Wrap up," Jason ordered. "None of you have been this close to the perimeter before and you don't understand how deadly it is here. Naxa is keeping the larger animals away and you all can handle the smaller ones. That isn't the danger. Every thorn is poisoned, and even the blades of grass carry a deadly sting. Watch out for insects of any kind and once we start moving breathe only through the wet cloths."
"He's right," Naxa snorted. "N'ver been closer 'n this m'self. Death, death up by that wall. Do like 'e says."
They could only wait then, honing down already needlesharp cross~ bow bolts, and glancing up at the slowly moving sun. Only Naxa didn'i share the unrest. He sat, eyes unfocused, feeling the movement ol animal life in the jungle around them.
"On the way," he said. "Biggest thing I 'ver heard. Not a beast 'tween here and the mountains, ain't howlin' 'is lungs out, rwmin' toward the city.,'
Jason was aware of part of it. A tension in the air and a wave a! intensified anger and hatred. It would work, he knew, if they couk only keep the attack confined to a small area. The talkers had seemec sure of it. They had stalked out quietly that morning, a thin line a! ragged men, moving in a mental sweep that would round up the Pyrrar life and send it charging against the city.
"They hit!" Naxa said suddenly.
The men were on their feet now, staring in the direction of the city Jason had felt the twist in his gut as the attack had been driven home and knew that this was it. There was the sound of shots and a heav3 booming far away. Thin streamers of smoke began to blow above thc treetops.
"Let's get into position," Plies said.
Around them the jungle howled with an echo of hatred. The half sentient plants writhed and the air was thick with small flying things Naxa sweated and mumbled as he turned back the animals that crashec toward them. By the time they reached the last screen of foliage befon the burned-out area, they had lost four men. One had been stung by ax insect; Jason got the medikit to him in time but he was so sick he ha to turn back The other three were bitten or scratched and treatmen came too late. Their swollen, twisted bodies were left behind on
trail.