"Arcady And Boris Strugatsky. Prisoners of Power" - читать интересную книгу автораnothing shady or questionable about her past or present. She came from an
educated family. Her father had died in the war; her mother was still employed as a teacher in Duck Village. Ordi, too, had worked as a teacher until she had been fired as a degen. She hid, tried to escape to Khonti, and finally met Gel, who was smuggling weapons. He turned her into a terrorist. Purely idealistic considerations had dictated her initial devotion to the cause: she fought for a just society where each individual would be free to think and do as he or she wished and was capable of doing. Then, seven years ago, the police had tracked down Ordi and taken her child as hostage in an effort to force her to surrender her husband and herself. The underground staff would not permit her to do this because she knew too much. She had heard nothing more about her child and considered him dead, although deep down she didn't believe it. These last seven years she was driven primarily by hatred for the enemy. Her dream of a just society remained only a remote and faded ideal. Although she had loved him deeply, she accepted the loss of her husband with surprising serenity. Long before his arrest she had probably reconciled herself to the idea that she must not get attached to anything at all. Now, like Gel at his trial, she was a living corpse, but a very dangerous one. "Mac is a greenhorn," said Memo. "How do we know he won't lose his head when he's alone? It's ridiculous to rely on this plan and reject an old reliable one just because we have this greenhorn. I said it once and I'll say it again: it's too risky." "Drop it, Hoofer," said Green. "It's our work. Old plan, new plan - what's the difference? They're all risky. What else can you expect? We can't them at ten o'clock, those guys under the tower won't know what happened. At ten they're probably drinking whiskey and singing their lungs out. That's when we strike. Maybe they haven't even loaded their guns; they're too drunk. Yes, I like the plan. Right, Mac?" "I feel the same way," said Forester. "If this plan is a surprise to me, imagine what it'll be for the legionnaires. Green is right: they won't know what hit them. Besides, those pills will give us an extra five minutes. And before you know it, Mac will have that tower knocked out and everything will be great. Oh, it damn well will be great!" he said suddenly, as if struck by a new idea. "And we'll be the first guys in the underground to topple a tower. Just think how long it will take them to repair it! We'll live like human beings for at least a month without attacks from that son-of-a-bitch tower." "Hoofer, I'm afraid you misunderstood me," said the General. "Nothing has really changed in this plan. We're just launching a surprise attack, with additional help from Ordi. And our withdrawal will vary only slightly from the usual procedure." "If you're worried that Mac won't be able to drag us all out of there," said Ordi, "don't forget, he'll have to get only one of us, at most two. He's strong enough to do it." "Yes," agreed the General. "That's true." The General was in love with Ordi. Only Maxim was aware of his feelings, but he realized that it was an old and hopeless love. It had begun when Gel was still alive, but now it seemed even more hopeless. He was not a |
|
|