"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 9 - The Omicron Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

On their final approach, Lady A released the landing gear and the wheels came down and locked
into place. The whole group braced themselves as they came flashing through the field at a speed that
seemed far too great, while Lady A lowered the flaps to give them as much braking power as she could.

The little craft bumped and jounced its way through the rows of crops and over the uneven
ground. A wheel on the port side hit a pothole and threatened to spill them over, but Lady A quickly
countered by turning the wheel into the new direction, veering their course and heading them straight for
the trees. The glider finally rolled to a stop twenty meters from the edge of the orchard, and everyone
breathed a great sigh of relief.

Lady A pulled back on the lever to fold the wings into the escape module's body once more, at the
same time releasing the catch that held the canopy in place. The top of the egg sprang back, and the people
inside got their first whiffs of the clean, cold air of the Omicron rainstorm.

Despite the downpour they were all eager to get out of the cramped confines of the tiny cabin.
Within a very few seconds they were all soaked to the skin, wet hair plastered to their heads; even the
normally majestic Lady A could not overcome the ravages of the weather—she looked as much like a
drowned rat as the rest of them.

Before doing anything else, they had the task of pushing their glider into the orchard. The module
was surprisingly light, but the uneven ground made pushing it a laborious chore, even for all six of them.
Lady A was the only one not puffing by the time they finally had the craft hidden some distance within the
orchard—but then, being in a robot body, she didn't need to breathe at all.

For the first time since encountering the enemy fighters, they had a chance to review their
situation critically. With the loss of the H-16 they were stranded indefinitely on Omicron, a planet
dominated, if not controlled, by enemy forces. They had only the clothes on their bodies and the
equipment they'd brought with them to use in fighting the unknown menace. They were cold and wet and
didn't know exactly where they were. As the beginning for an important mission, this was not exactly the
most propitious.

CHAPTER 6

Capture

At Jules's command, the team set out in the direction of the town they'd seen from the air. They
stayed inside the orchard as long as possible to take advantage of the trees' cover, but after only half a
kilometer the orchard ended. They would have to walk the rest of the way to the town under open sky in
full view of any invaders who might fly over. Jules thought briefly of waiting until dark, but decided
against it. Speed was more important here, and the sooner they reached the town and started finding out
what had happened, the better their mission would go. If anyone spotted them from the air, there was no
way to tell they weren't ordinary citizens of Omicron.

The chill arid the rain made them feel miserable. They had dressed for stealth, not for warmth or
comfort, and they were regretting that decision. Their hair was stringy and wet, dripping down their noses
and cheeks; their breath formed small clouds of steam in front of them. Each step became an effort, as
they had to lift their feet out of the mud and step right back into it again. Fortunately they were all wearing
boots to keep their feet reasonably well insulated, but the constant slogging in addition to the generally
dreary climate only depressed their spirits more.