"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 19 - Looters of Tharn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

behind it.

Blade let the machine rise until it was about thirty feet above the ground. Then he inched the lift control
back down until the machine stopped rising and hovered as steadily as a rock.

Blade turned back to the screens. The big square machine was now well out from the city. It seemed to
be moving slowly and steadily toward the center of the triangle that had been formed by the three war
machines. A second large machine was emerging from the city. The turret on top of the first one was now
clearly visible. It bristled with antennae and lenses. In the center of one side was a large black tube.
 Blade decided it was time to test out his machine somewhat more. He didn't like the purposeful way the
two big machines were moving out from the city. If they were armed in proportion to their size, he didn't
want to play sitting duck for their weapons.

The bottommost of the three levers on the control column could only move horizontally. That made it the
most likely candidate for sending the machine forward and backward. Once again Blade's hand gently
closed on a lever and moved it. For a moment there was no sign or sensation of anything happening.
Then, in the rearward-looking screen, Blade saw that the grass below was slowly drifting away behind
him. He was on the move.

He fed in more power and shoved the speed control up farther. Now the plain rolled toward him at an
increasing clip. He guessed he must be hitting close to thirty miles an hour. The machine's massive weight
still kept it as steady in the air as if it were running on rails.

Blade took the control wheel firmly in both hands and twisted it to the right. The plain slid across the
screens and the floor of the cabin tilted as the machine swung around in the same direction. Blade turned
the wheel left. The machine swung back on course, then over to the left. Blade looked at the speed
control, tempted to open it wider. He resisted the temptation. He didn't yet know enough about
controlling this machine or its power.

A faint whistle sounded high overhead, from outside the machine. It rose in seconds to an ear-splitting
shriek. Something trailing grayish white smoke plunged out of the sky and struck the plain a mile ahead.
No explosion, only an enormous mass of red smoke rolling and boiling up. Moments later Blade's
machine wobbled slightly in midair, then started to slow down of its own accord. The dance of the lights
on the control board began again.

Blade noticed that the speed lever was sliding backward and that the machine seemed to be sinking
toward the ground. He reached for the lift control and shoved it back to its previous position. Then he
pushed the speed control forward again. By the time the machine passed through the cloud of red smoke,
it was moving as fast as before.

The temptation to make a run for it was growing in Blade. It was obvious that the red smoke rocket had
been some sort of signal to the machine to stop and land. The computer had been doing just that when he
overrode it. That override would be a signal to the other machines that something was wrong in this one.
Blade wanted to find out what they would do next, and for that he knew he would have to stay around
for a while. On the other hand, he had to get away if he wanted to study this machine at leisure and in
detail. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. He was also a man who hated to turn his back
on an opponent, even for the best of reasons.

So he did not speed up. But he did lift the machine until it was some fifty feet up. Then he started
zigzagging, making sharp turns at irregular intervals. He was not going to be an easy target, if he had to be