"Elizabeth Moon - Serrano 7 - Against the Odds" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

"What?"

The professor launched into an enthusiastic explanation. In the few
seconds from outside to inside, his idea had already developed elaborate
additions. The others looked blank.

Major Garson was the first to nod. "Yeah-the only way to get transport is
to get them to give it to us. But it's not going to be easy. They've got a
lot more troops topside than we have . . . they can scorch us with the
shuttle weaponry, for that matter."

"So our first job is to convince them we're not that dangerous," the
professor said. He had taken off his hat and shoved it into a pocket; his
thinning gray fringe stuck up in untidy peaks.

"Do they even know how many of us there were?" asked Margiu. "They don't
know the planes were full, do they? Vinet didn't get any messages up to
them-"

"No . . . that's right. And except during the firefight last night, we've
been mostly undercover. But they'd be stupid to come in carelessly," Major
Garson said. "Never count on the enemy to be careless."

"But-" The professor held up his hand a moment, then nodded. "But suppose,
using Margiu's radio apparatus, we give them what looks like accidental
clues. We try to contact them, pretending to be mutineers fighting with
scientists-"

"No, wait!" That was the skinny man with wild black hair. Ty, Margiu
remembered. "Look, they know the loyalists have the radio now. Suppose we
send a message, like we hope it'll bounce around to mainland, begging for
help. And then break off. And then an hour or so later, there's a message
to them from some of the military pretending to be mutineers, and then-"

"How would the mutineers know how to use that equipment?" Garson said.
"It's nothing Fleet-trained people would know unless they happened on it
somewhere else, like Ensign Pardalt. And besides, it's too fragile. It
could get shot up in a firefight."

"Suppose we say the radio's the loyalists'," Margiu said. The others
looked at her. "And we're begging for help from the mainland, like he
said." She nodded at Ty. "But of course it doesn't come. We sound more and
more desperate-we talk about being hunted by the mutineers, about the
people killed in the explosions of the planes, and then the food
shortages-the mutineers have all the supplies . . ."

"Yes! That's good," the professor said. "And we'll move the thing around,
so when they trace the signal they'll know someone's trying to stay in
hiding-and then we'll take it underground . . ."