"Jacqueline Lichtenberg - Sime Gen 04 - Mahogany Trinrose" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lichtenberg Jacqueline)

Wellway Township, Gartin Territory."

"Digen Farris, here, Mr. Mayor. Is there any way to reason with that
mob?"

"If there was, I'd have done it by now. We did our best to protect your
Simes, Mr. Controller, but they're all gypsies."

"What did they do?" asked Digen. Normally he wouldn't consider gypsy
Simes as under his jurisdiction. However, when a band of mixed Sime and
Gen gypsies traveled out into Gen Territory, the resident Gens held the
Sime government responsibleтАФand here, that meant Digen.

"Townsfolk figure they're causing the rain," the Mayor responded.
"They're planning to bum them at the stake to stop the rain before it
washes the whole town away."

"The charge, then, isтАФwitchcraft?" It was a statute on the books in
some Gen Territories.

"What else would you call it?"

"Have they been legally convicted?"

"HellтАФno! That's a lynch mob out there. If you can get your people out,
you're welcome to them. You can take them to Carlston, where they can
get a fair trial."

But, Digen realized, he wasn't going to get any further help from the
Gen authorities. "Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We'll do our best."
 Digen thought fast. "Number Two!" he called on his command
frequency. "Drop down over the square, moving fast. Find out if they have
guns. Number One and Number Three, unlimber your ladders and stand
by to deploy on target. Fil," he ended to his own pilot, "we'll circle the
edges of the crowd using our downdraft to scatter them."

When the Number Two unit was not shot at, Digen ordered it to follow
the others into the center of the square and drop ladders to the prisoner
gypsies awaiting execution. The ones on the pyres were already dead.

The maneuver was working, a Sime dangling on the end of each
chopper's ladder to cut the gypsies free, attach harnesses, and lift them
out, when a multi-branched flash of lightning lit up the hillside above the
town. It was only then that Digen caught sight of the wall of water rolling
down upon them all.

He grabbed for his exterior microphone and jumped the gain up to
maximum. His voice boomed out over the whole valley. "Your dam has
broken. Repeat. Your dam has broken. You have approximately ten
minutes to reach high ground. Our choppers will assist those stranded.