"H. Beam Piper - Four- Day Planet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

order, even when there is no order and the law itself is illegal. I'd always
thought there was a lot of merit in what Tom was suggesting. Bish Ware
seemed to have his doubts, though.
тАЬMmm, no; there ought to be some better way of doing it than that.тАЭ
тАЬCan you think of one?тАЭ Tom challenged.
I didn't hear Bish's reply. By that time, the tugs were almost to the
ship. I grabbed up the telephoto camera and aimed it. It has its own power
unit, and transmits directly. In theory, I could tune it to the telecast
station and put what I was getting right on the air, and what I was doing
was transmitting to the Times, to be recorded and 'cast later. Because it's
not a hundred per cent reliable, though, it makes its own audiovisual
record, so if any of what I was sending didn't get through, it could be
spliced in after I got back.
I got some footage of the tugs grappling the ship, which was now
completely weightless, and pulling her down. Through the finder, I could
see that she had her landing legs extended; she looked like a big overfed
spider being hauled in by a couple of gnats. I kept the butt of the camera
to my shoulder, and whenever anything interesting happened, I'd squeeze
the trigger. The first time I ever used a real submachine gun had been to
kill a blue slasher that had gotten into one of the ship pools at the
waterfront. I used three one-second bursts, and threw bits of slasher all
over the place, and everybody wondered how I'd gotten the practice.
A couple more boats, pushers, went up to help hold the ship against the
wind, and by that time she was down to a thousand feet, which was half
her diameter. I switched from the shoulder-stock telephoto to the big tripod
job, because this was the best part of it. The ship was weightless, of
course, but she had mass and an awful lot of it. If anybody goofed getting
her down, she'd take the side of the landing pit out, and about ten per cent
of the population of Fenris, including the ace reporter for the Times, along
with it.
At the same time, some workmen and a couple of spaceport cops had
appeared, taken out a section of railing and put in a gate. The Peenem├╝nde
settled down, turned slowly to get her port in line with the gate, and
lurched off contragravity and began running out a bridge to the promenade.
I got some shots of that, and then began packing my stuff back in the
hamper.
тАЬYou going aboard?тАЭ Tom asked. тАЬCan I come along? I can carry some of
your stuff and let on I'm your helper.тАЭ
 Glory be, I thought; I finally got that apprentice.
тАЬWhy, sure,тАЭ I said. тАЬYou tow the hamper; I'll carry this.тАЭ I got out what
looked like a big camera case and slung it over my shoulder. тАЬBut you'll
have to take me out on the Javelin, sometime, and let me shoot a
monster.тАЭ
He said it was a deal, and we shook on it. Then I had another idea.
тАЬBish, suppose you come with us, too,тАЭ I said. тАЬAfter all, Tom and I are
just a couple of kids. If you're with us, it'll look a lot more big-paperish.тАЭ
That didn't seem to please Tom too much. Bish shook his head, though,
and Tom brightened.
тАЬI'm dreadfully sorry, Walt,тАЭ Bish said. тАЬBut I'm going aboard, myself, to
see a friend who is en route through to Odin. A Dr. Watson; I have not