"Phillip Francis Nowlan - Buck Rogers 01 - Armageddon 2419" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nowlan Philip Francis)

In turn the men called their names. There were twenty of them.
I assigned them by name to cover the various Hanships, numbering the latter from left to right.
"'Train our ockets on their repellor rays about three quarters of the way up, between ships and
ground. Aim s more important than elevation. Follow those rays withyour aim continuously. Shoot
when I tell you, not beforeDeering has the record. The Hans probably have no seen us, or at least
think there are but two of us in th valley, since they're settling without opening up dis integrators. Any
opinions?"
 My ear discs remained silent.
"Deering and I will remain here until they land anddebark. Stand by and keep alert."
┬╖ Rapidly and easily the largest of the Han ships settle to the earth. Three scouted sharply to the south,
risin to a higher level. The others floated motionless about thousand feet above.
Peeping through a small fissure between two plates, saw the vast hulk of the ship come to rest full on
the lin of our prospective ring barrage. A door clanged open couple of feet from the ground, and one
by one the crew emerged.

THE "WYOMING MASSACRE"

"They're coming out of the ship." I spoke quietly with my hand over my mouth, for fear they migh hear
me. "One-two- three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine. That seems to be all. Who knows how many men
I ship like that is likely to carry?"
- "About ten, if there are no passengers," replied one of
my men, probably one of those on the hillside.
"How are they armed?" I asked.
- "Just knives," came the reply. "They never permit hand rays on the ship. Afraid of accidents. Have a
ruling against it"
"Leave them to us then," I said, for I had a plan in mind. "You, on the hillsides, take the ships above.
Abandon the ring target. Divide up in training on those repellor rays. You on the hilltops, all train on the
repellors of the ships to the south. Shoot at the word, but not before.
"Wilma, crawl over to your left where you can make a straight leap for the door in that ship. These
men are all walking around the wreck in a bunch. When they're on the far side, I'll give the word and
you leap through that door in one bound. I'll follow. Maybe we won't be seen. We'll overpower the
guard inside, but don't shoot We may escape being seen by both this crew and the ships above. They
can't see over this wreck."
It was so easy that it seemed too good to be true. The Hans who had emerged from the ship walked
round the wreckage lazily, talking in guttural tones, keenly irterested in the wreck, but quite
unsuspicious.
At last they were on the far side. In a moment they would be picking their way into the wreck.
"Wilma, leap!" I almost whispered the order.
The distance between Wilma's hiding place and the door in the side of the Han ship was not more than
fifteen feet. She was already crouched with her feet braced against a metal beam. Taking the lift of the
inertron belt into her calculation, she dove headforemost, like a projectile, through the door. I followed in
a split second, more clumsily, but no less speedily, bruising my shoulder painfully as I ricocheted from the
edge of the opening and brought up sliding against the unconscious
┬╖girl; for she evidently had hit her head against the partition within the ship into which she had crashed.
We had made some noise within the ship Shuffling footsteps were approaching down a well-lit
gangway.
"Any signs we have been observed?" I asked my men on the hillsides.
"Not yet," I heard the Boss reply. "Ships overhead still standing. No beams have been broken out. Men
on ground absorbed in wreck. Most of them have crawled into it out of sight."
"Good," I said quickly. "Deering hit her head. Knocked out. One or more members of the crew