"Arcady And Boris Strugatsky. Prisoners of Power" - читать интересную книгу автора

"Massaraksh!" said Memo. "What the hell now?"
"Don't interrupt!" said the General. "At precisely twenty-two hundred
the evening radiation strike begins. A few seconds before, each of us will
take two tablets. The rest of the operation is the same, with one exception:
Ordi and I will throw the grenades. Mac will have all the mines and will
blow up the tower alone."
"How come?" said Forester as he studied the map. "It doesn't make
sense: twenty-two hundred is radiation time. I'll be flat on my back and not
even a jab with a bayonet could get me to my feet."
"Just a minute," said the General. "I'll repeat it again: at ten
seconds beforebefore twenty-two hundred, everyone will take this painkiller.
Do you understand. Forester? You will take it! So, by twenty-two hundred -
"
"I know those pills," said Forester. "Two minutes of relief and that's
it. Then you're completely tied up in knots. We know, we've tried them."
"These are different," explained the General patiently. "They are
effective up to five minutes. We'll have time to make a dash for the
guardhouse and throw our grenades. Mac will take care of the rest."
Silence fell. They were thinking. Forester, who was a little slow on
the uptake, scratched his head. The idea was sinking in slowly. He stopped
scratching, looked around with an expression, of sudden insight, brightened,
and slapped his knees. Forester had taken a lot of hard knocks in life but
still didn't understand what it was all about. He wanted nothing more than
to be left in peace and to return to his family. He had spent the entire war
in a the trenches, where he feared his corporal more than the atomic
weapons. He had grown very fond of Maxim and was deeply grateful to him for
curing an old leg injury. Since then he firmly believed that nothing could
happen to him as long as Maxim was present. Maxim had slept in his cellar
all month, and every evening before retiring Forester would tell him the
same story, but each time with a different ending. Maxim could not imagine
Forester taking part in any bloodshed, although he had heard that he was a
skillful and ruthless fighter.
"The new plan has the following advantages," said the General. "First
of all, they aren't expecting us: the element of surprise. Second, the first
plan was made a long time ago and there's the danger that the enemy is aware
of it. This time we're going to strike first. It increases our chances of
success."
Green kept nodding approvingly, and his face glowed with malicious
delight. He was a man who enjoyed taking risks; he loved the unexpected. His
past was very shady: he had been a thief and a swindler; he had spent time
in prison, made a daring escape, tried to return to his underworld pals, but
times had changed. They wouldn't tolerate a degen and wanted to turn him in,
but he beat them off and escaped again. He hid in the countryside until the
late Gel Ketshef had found him. Green was clever, a romantic, believed the
earth to be flat and the sky solid. It was precisely because of his
ignorance and wild imagination that he was the only person on the inhabited
island to suspect that Maxim was not from the mountains, not a strange quirk
of nature, but a visitor from an impossible place, maybe from beyond the
heavenly firmament. He had seen mountaineers - in all shapes and sizes.
Green never mentioned his thoughts directly to Maxim, but dropped hints and