"Harry Harrison - Bill 2 - On The Planet Of Robot Slaves" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

business." "Third Lieutenant, draw your weapon. Shoot anyone who disobeys
my commands. We will follow the tracks. Load up." He glared at Captain Bly
whose complaints muttered away into silence. "Good. Now if you will glance at
the compass you will see that the tracks go roughly in the direction we are
following. So take everything and let's move out. And quickly." They
moved. Sharing out the contents of Meta's pack and loading up. Bill, his
blaster still drawn, took point and led the way. The sun rose in the sky
but they did not stop. They were stumbling with fatigue before Bill called a
halt and they dropped in their tracks. "Five minutes-no longer." Moans of
exhaustion were his only answer. Dimly in the distance there was the rumble of
an explosion. "You all heard that," Bill said grimly, climbing to his
feet. "Let's move on." When they had trudged their way to the top of yet
one more sand dune they could see the column of black smoke ahead. Bill waved
them down and dropped his pack onto the sand. "Keep your weapons ready-and
your eyes open. If I am not back in five minutes..." He opened his jaw, then
shut it again, not knowing what came next. "Look," Praktis said, "just get
out there and find out what has happened. If we don't hear from you we'll take
it from there."62 There was steely resolve in Bill's stride as he marched
into battle, down the dune and up the next one. He peered cautiously over the
top before he went on. When the smoke was close, just beyond the next dune, he
dropped and crawled to the top and with infinite caution peered over it.
"About time you got here," Meta said as soon as his head came into view. "Got
some water?" "Are you all right?" He kept his blaster ready as he crawled
forward, looking at the burning metal wreck. "No thanks to your lot. Let
me be kidnaped right out from under your noses." "What happened? What is
that thing?" "How should I know? What I do know is that I was sound asleep
and next thing I'm awake and covered with sand and being tossed about. I sat
up and must have hit my head because I was knocked out for a while. I came to,
it was black, I could hear an engine and I knew we were moving. I still had my
blaster so I shot my way out. Now-the water?" "With the others." He fired
three quick blasts on his blaster. "They'll hear that. Did you kill the driver
of the thing?" "There wasn't one-that was the first thing I looked for.
It's a robot or remotely controlled or something. Some sort of machine on
treads with that big scoop on the front. It must have scooped me up and
trundled off while you all slept so very soundly." "I'm sorry-but I didn't
hear anything. . . There was a sharp clang from the other side of the
burning hulk, followed by the sound of an engine. "There's more of
them-get down!" he63shouted, setting an example by dropping and burrowing
into the sand. "I'll get the mothers before they get me!" Meta frothed
angrily, running forward, blaster ready. Bill reluctantly followed her,
hurrying only when he heard the sound of her weapon. She stood, legs
spread wide, blowing smoke from the pitted muzzle of her blaster. "Missed,"
she said with disgust. "It got away." Bill looked at the tracks that led
up the dune ahead and vanished over the top. They were tiny treads, less than
a yard wide, just one set of them. He blinked with confusion. "It went up that
way? Then-how did it get down here?" "It was here all the time, inside
this other one," Meta said, pointing at the hinged flap that now gaped open in
the side of the wreck. "It came out of here and trundled away and you know, it
wasn't a robot driver or anything. It looked just like this wreck, only much
smaller." "We have a mystery here," Praktis said, strolling down the dune