[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"All right," she said. "But the first thing is to hide this tractor. If we
drive up there, they'll have us too.
I thought about that. "Right. We can walk from here. It's not too far." I took
Aunt Ellen off the road and out into the boulder fields. We found a hollow
full of dust. I drove into it, and the wind whipped more dust around us.
Pretty soon the tractor would be hidden. The tracks leading in from the road
were already covered over.
I switched on the pumps. By the time we had put our helmets on the air from
the cabin was stored in tanks.
"We won't be able to use the suit radios," Erica warned. "They'll hear us."
"Yeah." We got out, and I looked around carefully. It wouldn't do to hide the
tractor so well we couldn't find it again. There was a big split rock about
ten meters away, and I looked up at the stars to get a bearing from it to the
tractor. We had about three hours of daylight left, maybe a little more, but
not much. When night came we'd have to be inside, either in a tractor or in a
shelter.
When we were sure we could find Aunt Ellen again, we started walking for
Windhome. Erica was young and healthy, but she had trouble keeping up with me.
That's one advantage to being born on Earth.
I was used to weighing over twice as much as I did on Mars, and even with all
the air tanks and other
gear it wasn't hard going. I wished we had weapons, but we didn't, except for
our knives and some tools in our belt kits.
I led her up the side of the Chamberpot, a tattered rimwall that stands next
to Windhome. Sarge called it the Devil's Pisspot, but the official mapmakers
wouldn't use that. The Chamberpot's rim has cracks that lead to Windhome,
and I was sure nobody knew about them.
It was tricky climbing the side of the hill, and if you run too hard, you use
a lot of air. We scrambled up the steep sides of the crater to the top, then
down into the bowl. There was a ledge just inside the rim.
It dropped off sheer for a hundred meters on our right, and it wasn't very
wide. Until I watched her two-step along a section not much wider than my
foot, I worried about Erica. Then I worried about myself.
I couldn't talk to her because the cops might be listening. I wondered if
they'd heard Sarge's message to me. If they had they'd be looking for us, but
they wouldn't know in what direction I'd been coming.
There's a lot of desolate area around Windhome. I decided we were safe for the
moment.
At the end of the ledge there was a crack through the rimwall. It was just
wide enough to get through.
Once inside it we were in deep shadow, but even through the dust we could see
stars out above us like night. Then we were looking down on Windhome.
The station was in ruins. All the domes were cracked open, and the air-lock
doors had been blown off their hinges.
There were more explosions as we stood watching. We couldn't hear them, of
course, but we could see dust blow out of openings, and one of the tunnels
collapsed. I stood in a boiling rage, trying to decide what to do. Mostly I
wanted to kill people. A lot of them.
A group filed out of the main entrance. I had brought the binoculars from the
Page 37
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
tractor, and I could see them clearly: Federation Marines, carrying rifles.
Seven of them had slugthrowers, and another had a big powerpack and laser
rifle. After a short interval two more came out. One of them was Sarge. I
could tell from his walk. They had him in handcuffs, but he was alive!
I grabbed Erica and pointed. She nodded. Then she held up her belt
radio and pointed to the frequency dial. It took me a moment to catch on -
I thought she wanted to talk, which was stupid of me.
She knew better. When I tuned the receiver to the frequency she showed me, I
heard voices.
"Where is he, Wechsung?"
"Go to hell."
"Look, we know your tractor is missing. Where did he go?"
"Get dorked."
One of the men hit Sarge with his rifle butt. I heard Sarge grunt, then he
said, "Bielenson, you were a slimy bastard when I was in the service. You
haven't changed."
"Maybe not. Take a good look, Wechsung. You men, get a lot of photos of this
place. We'll show these farmers what happens to rebels. They'll straighten
up."
I put my helmet against Erica's. When they touched we could talk without
radios. "We've got to do something!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl ocenkijessi.opx.pl
"All right," she said. "But the first thing is to hide this tractor. If we
drive up there, they'll have us too.
I thought about that. "Right. We can walk from here. It's not too far." I took
Aunt Ellen off the road and out into the boulder fields. We found a hollow
full of dust. I drove into it, and the wind whipped more dust around us.
Pretty soon the tractor would be hidden. The tracks leading in from the road
were already covered over.
I switched on the pumps. By the time we had put our helmets on the air from
the cabin was stored in tanks.
"We won't be able to use the suit radios," Erica warned. "They'll hear us."
"Yeah." We got out, and I looked around carefully. It wouldn't do to hide the
tractor so well we couldn't find it again. There was a big split rock about
ten meters away, and I looked up at the stars to get a bearing from it to the
tractor. We had about three hours of daylight left, maybe a little more, but
not much. When night came we'd have to be inside, either in a tractor or in a
shelter.
When we were sure we could find Aunt Ellen again, we started walking for
Windhome. Erica was young and healthy, but she had trouble keeping up with me.
That's one advantage to being born on Earth.
I was used to weighing over twice as much as I did on Mars, and even with all
the air tanks and other
gear it wasn't hard going. I wished we had weapons, but we didn't, except for
our knives and some tools in our belt kits.
I led her up the side of the Chamberpot, a tattered rimwall that stands next
to Windhome. Sarge called it the Devil's Pisspot, but the official mapmakers
wouldn't use that. The Chamberpot's rim has cracks that lead to Windhome,
and I was sure nobody knew about them.
It was tricky climbing the side of the hill, and if you run too hard, you use
a lot of air. We scrambled up the steep sides of the crater to the top, then
down into the bowl. There was a ledge just inside the rim.
It dropped off sheer for a hundred meters on our right, and it wasn't very
wide. Until I watched her two-step along a section not much wider than my
foot, I worried about Erica. Then I worried about myself.
I couldn't talk to her because the cops might be listening. I wondered if
they'd heard Sarge's message to me. If they had they'd be looking for us, but
they wouldn't know in what direction I'd been coming.
There's a lot of desolate area around Windhome. I decided we were safe for the
moment.
At the end of the ledge there was a crack through the rimwall. It was just
wide enough to get through.
Once inside it we were in deep shadow, but even through the dust we could see
stars out above us like night. Then we were looking down on Windhome.
The station was in ruins. All the domes were cracked open, and the air-lock
doors had been blown off their hinges.
There were more explosions as we stood watching. We couldn't hear them, of
course, but we could see dust blow out of openings, and one of the tunnels
collapsed. I stood in a boiling rage, trying to decide what to do. Mostly I
wanted to kill people. A lot of them.
A group filed out of the main entrance. I had brought the binoculars from the
Page 37
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
tractor, and I could see them clearly: Federation Marines, carrying rifles.
Seven of them had slugthrowers, and another had a big powerpack and laser
rifle. After a short interval two more came out. One of them was Sarge. I
could tell from his walk. They had him in handcuffs, but he was alive!
I grabbed Erica and pointed. She nodded. Then she held up her belt
radio and pointed to the frequency dial. It took me a moment to catch on -
I thought she wanted to talk, which was stupid of me.
She knew better. When I tuned the receiver to the frequency she showed me, I
heard voices.
"Where is he, Wechsung?"
"Go to hell."
"Look, we know your tractor is missing. Where did he go?"
"Get dorked."
One of the men hit Sarge with his rifle butt. I heard Sarge grunt, then he
said, "Bielenson, you were a slimy bastard when I was in the service. You
haven't changed."
"Maybe not. Take a good look, Wechsung. You men, get a lot of photos of this
place. We'll show these farmers what happens to rebels. They'll straighten
up."
I put my helmet against Erica's. When they touched we could talk without
radios. "We've got to do something!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]