"Timothy Zahn - Blackcollar 2 - The Backlash Mission" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

anything?"

Lepkowski eyed him. "I can give you a few generalities, but not much more." He tapped a spot on
the photo. "The entrance is off the highway here. Leads back under the crest of the mountain, about
three klicks away. The tunnel is wide enough for fighter aircraft, which would be rolled out onto the
highway for launch."

"About how many of them were there?"

"Aircraft? I'd say a hundred at least, maybe more. But there won't be any of them leftтАФthey would
all have been out attacking Ryqril landing craft and escorts at the end."

"None of the survivors would have had the proper codes to get back in?"

"There aren't any codes for opening a battle-sealed fortress from the outside," Lepkowski said flatly.
"When I said no one could get in, I meant it. Unless the people inside open up, the place stays
sealed. Well. Below the hangar level are eight personnel levels, plus one more with the fusion
generators and gas turbine and fuel cell backups. Water from artesian wells dug to various depths,
air through long ventilation tunnels with a dozen different filtration systems. Enough food, fuel, and
spare parts to survive a good fifteen years. That's for the entire contingent of about two thousand
officers and enlisted men, of course."

Caine shook his head in wonderment. "The place must be huge. Any emergency escape tunnels?"

"There would have been one, but don't count on using it. It would have been collapsed automatically
after any survivors got out."

"Or collapsed manually by those still inside?"

"Point," Lepkowski admitted. "A small contingent could have survived in there this long. If they'd
lost weapons capability during the last battle the Ryqril might have postponed dealing with them....
No. No, it doesn't make sense. They wouldn't have left a group of potential rebels locked up in a
functional military base."

"Unless they don't know where the entrance is," Caine suggested suddenly. "If there were even a
minor rock fallтАФ"

"Except that anyone in Denver could have shown them where it was," Lepkowski put in dryly. "It
wasn't exactly hidden or anything. In fact"тАФhe peered at the displayтАФ"it looks to me like there's a

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Blackcollar: The Backlash Mission

small encampment right by the door now."

If there was, Caine's untrained eyes couldn't spot it. "A Ryqril checkpoint? Or just a group of cultists
worshipping the dead base?"

"Don't laughтАФit could easily be something that crazy." Lepkowski pointed to a spot a few
kilometers west. "That town shows signs of habitation, too, despite the fact that the tunnel linking