"Mack Reynolds - North Africa 02 - Border, Breed or Birth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Mack)

She said evenly, "I've always considered myself a pacifist, but when
somebody starts shooting at me, I forget about it and am inclined to shoot
back."

"I haven't got time to argue with you," Bey said. "There aren't any extra
guns except hand guns and they'd be useless." As he spoke, he pulled his
own Tommy-Noiseless from its scabbard on the front door of the
air-cushion lorry, and checked its clip of two hundred .10 caliber
ultra-high velocity rounds. He flicked the selector to the explosive side of
the clip.

The plane was roaring in on what would be its first pass, if Bey had
guessed correctly. If he had guessed incorrectly, this might be the end. A
charge of neopalm would fry everything for a quarter of a mile around, or
the craft might even be equipped with a mini-fission bomb. In this area a
minor nuclear explosion would probably go undetected.

Bey yelled, "Don't anybody even try to fire at him at this range. He'll be
back. It takes half the sky to turn around in with that crate, but he'll be
back, lower next time."

Cliff Jackson said cheerlessly, "Maybe he's just looking for us. He won't
necessarily take a crack at us."

Bey grunted. "Elmer?"

"Nothing on the radio," Elmer said. "If he was just scouting us out, he'd
report to his base. But if his orders are to clobber us, then he wouldn't put
it on the air."

The plane was turning in the sky, coming back. Cliff argued, "Well, we
can't fire unless we know if he's just hunting us out, or trying to do us in."

Elmer said patiently, "For just finding us, that first pass would be all he
needed. He could radio back that he'd found us. But if he comes in again,
he's looking for trouble."

"Here he comes!" Bey yelled. "Kenny, Cliff тАж the rifle!"

Isobel suddenly dashed out into the sands a dozen yards or so from the
vehicles and began running around and around in a circle as though
demented.

Bey stared at her. "Get back here," he roared. "Under one of the trucks!"
She ignored him.

The rocketplane was coming in, low and obviously as slow as the pilot
could retard its speed.