"Donald Malcolm - The Unknown Shore" - читать интересную книгу автора (Malcom Donald)

discipline will prevail."

"It didn't prevail on Canopus One."

Both men stared at Laura. Her statement had been without malice, but
the undercurrent of hate she bore toward the Major was unmistakable.

"I nursed some of the men who got back from that action. The ones
who were killed were lucky. The survivors suffered the greatest percentage
of regeneration failure on record since the war started 15 years ago. You
heard how he talked to the Commandant in the office. He thinks he can
cover up cowardice by causing trouble. Don't talk to me about discipline."

"We haven't heard his side of the story." Donlevy was attempting to be
fair, although he didn't like the Major, either.

"I've heard all the other sides and that's enough for me."

Rangone was shocked by the venom in her voice. However, it was none
of his concern at the moment. There was work to be done and very little
time in which to do it.

The next few days passed in a blur of work and exhaustion. Rangone
and Donlevy felt more like butchers than surgeons. They kept going by
taking stimulants. If there was an afterwards, then would come the
reckoning. The Navy still had a precarious hold in the Canopus system,
and every hour that they held on increased the margin of safety for the
station personnel.

By the evening of the third day the job was done. There had been some
difficulty with the healthy people who were required to submit to surgery,
but, after Brandt had made it brutally clear what would happen to them if
they elected to stay behind, they had agreed to it. All of them had signed
the official forms of release, although, strictly speaking, the formality
wasn't necessary, as they were already under military jurisdiction. Brandt
liked to let them think they had some share in the decision, however small.
The Navy messages had stopped coming. Why, Brandt didn't know. He
conjectured that it was a protective device on the part of the NavyтАФor
that the fleet had been annihilated. But this was just speculation; Brandt
simply didn't know. Minutes might count, now. Even as the final
preparations to blow up the installation were carried out by Essenden, the
Enemy might appear and blast them into spacedust.

***

THE surface detectors made one last sweep and found nothing. Space
was clear. The huge doors of the bay slid open and the ship was lifted to
the surface of the bleak satellite. Harsh light poured down from the B-type
star. The planet was a faintly glowing disc against the blackness.