"Henry Kuttner - Clash by Night" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)

beam.'
'If you're going back in that flitterboat,' Mendez said sardonically, 'I strongly advise a
rubdown. There's time to spare, now we've come to an agreement.'
Scott hesitated. 'Very well. I'm ... uh ... starting to ache.' He stood up. 'Oh, one thing I
forgot. We've heard rumours that Starling's outfit is using atomic power.'
Mendez's mouth twisted into a grimace of distaste. 'Hadn't heard that. Know anything about it,
gentlemen?'
Heads were shaken. One officer said, 'I've heard a little talk about it, but only talk, so far.'
Mendez said, 'After this war, we'll investigate further. If there's truth in the story, we'll join
you, of course, in mopping up the Starlings. No court-martial is necessary for that crime!'
'Thanks. I'll get in touch with other Companies and see what they've heard. Now, if you'll excuse
me-'
He saluted and went out, exultation flaming within him. The bargain had been a good one - for the
Doonemen badly needed the Mob's help against the Helldivers. Cine Rhys would be satisfied with the
arrangement.
An orderly took him to the baths, where a rubdown relaxed his aching muscles. Presently he was on
the quay again, climbing into the flitterboat. A glance behind him showed that the gears of war
were beginning to grind. There was little he could see, but men were moving about through the
courtyard with purposeful strides, to the shops, to administration, to the laboratories. The
battlewagons were anchored down the coast, Scott knew, in a protected bay, but they would soon
move out to their rendezvous with the Doones.
Kane, at the controls of the flitterboat, said, 'They repaired the auxiliary unit for us, sir.'
'Courtesies of the trade.' Scott lifted a friendly hand to the men on the quay as the boat slid
toward open water. 'The Doone fort, now. Know it?'
'Yes, sir. Are ... are the Mob fighting with us, if I may ask?'
'They are. And they're a grand lot of fighters. You're going to see action, Kane. When you hear
battle stations next, it's going to mean one of the sweetest scraps that happened on Venus. Push
down that throttle - we're in a hurry!'
The flitterboat raced southwest at top speed, its course marked by the flying V of spray.
'One last fight,' Scott thought to himself. Tm glad it's going to be a good one.'
IV
We eat and drink our own damnation.
-The Book of Common Prayer
The motor failed when they were about eight miles from the Doone fort.
It was a catastrophe rather than merely a failure. The overstrained and overheated engine, running
at top speed, blew back. The previous accident, at the subsea volcano, had brought out hidden
flaws in the alloy which the Mob's repair men had failed to detect, when they replaced the smashed
single unit. Sheer luck had the flitterboat poised on a swell when the crack-up happened. The
engine blew out and down, ripping the bow to shreds. Had they been bow-deep, the blast would have


file:///F|/rah/Henry%20Kuttner/Kuttner%20-%20Clash%20by%20Night%20(SS%20Collection)%20UC.txt (15 of 91) [2/4/03 10:11:40 PM]
 file:///F|/rah/Henry%20Kuttner/Kuttner%20-%20Clash%20by%20Night%20(SS%20Collection)%20UC.txt

been unfortunate for Scott and the pilot- more so than it was.
They were perhaps a half mile from the shore. Scott was deafened by the explosion and
simultaneously saw the horizon swinging in a drunken swoop. The boat turned turtle, the shell
smacking into water with a loud cracking sound. But the plastic held. Both men were tangled
together on what had been their ceiling, sliding forward as the flitterboat began to sink bow
first. Steam sizzled from the ruined engine.