"H. Beam Piper - Uller Uprising" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

Federation captain newly commissioned colonel in the army of the Uller Company, it had taken some
time before he had become accustomed to the detailing of a non-com and a couple of privates out of
each platoon for baby-sitting duty. At least, though, they didn't have the squaw-trouble around
army posts on Uller that they had on Thor, where he had last been stationed.

An airjeep, coming in out of the sun, circled the crag-top fort and let down onto the terrace next
to von Schlichten's command-car. It carried a bristle of 15-rnm machine-guns, and two of the eight
50-mm rocket-tubes on either side were empty and freshly smoke-stained. The duraglass canopy slid
back, and the two-man crew-lieutenant-driver and sergeant-gunner- jumped out. Von Schlichten knew


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them both.

"Lieutenant Kendall; Sergeant Garcia," he greeted. "Good afternoon, gentlemen."

Both saluted, in the informal, hell-with-rank-we're-all-human manner of Terran soldiers on
extraterrestrial duty, and returned the greeting.

"How's the Jeel situation?" he asked, then nodded toward the fired rocket-tubes. "I see you had
some shooting."

"Yes, sir," the lieutenant said. 'Two bands of them. We sighted the first coming up the eastern
side of the mountain about two miles this side of the Blue Springs. We got about half of them with
MG-fire, and the rest dived into a big rock-crevice. We had to use two rockets on them, and then
had to let down and pot a few of them with our pistols. We caught the second band in that little
punchbowl place about a mile this side of Zortolk's Old Fort. There were only six of them; they
were bunched together, feeding. Off one of their own gang, I'd say; the way we've been keeping
them up in the high rocks, they've been eating inside the family quite a bit, lately. We let them
have two rockets. No survivors. Not many very big pieces, in fact. We let down at Zortolk's for a
beer, after that, and Captain Martinelli told us that one of his jeeps caught what he thinks was
the same band that was down off the mountain night-before-last and ate those peasants on Prince
Neeldink's estate."

"By God, I'm glad to hear that!" There'd been a perfect hell of a flap about that business. Before
the Terrans came to Uller, it was a good year when not more than five hundred farm-folk would be
killed and eaten by Jeel cannibals. The incident of two nights ago had been the first of its kind
in almost six months, but the nobleman whose serfs had been eaten was practically accusing the
Company of responsibility for the crime. "I'll see that Neeldink is informed. The more you do for
these damned geeks, the more they expect from you.... When you get your vehicle re-ammoed,
lieutenant, suppose you buzz back to where you machine-gunned that first gang. If there are any
more around, they'll have moved in for the free meal by now." This breakdown of the Jeels' taboo
against eating fellow-tribesmen was one of the best things he'd heard from the cannibal-
extermination project for some time.

He turned to Themistocles M'zangwe. "In about two weeks, get a little task-force together. Say ten
combat-cars, about twenty airjeeps, and a battalion of Kragan Rifles in troop-carriers. Oh, yes,
and this good-for-nothing Konkrook Fencibles outfit of Prince Jaiz-erd's; they can be used for