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

As they walked up the road into the heart of the town, the story remained unchanged. Everywhere
around them, buildings had been closed up in a hurry; depending on their contents, some had later been
broken into by people needing the supplies they contained. Further into town, the road became a more
formal street, complete with sidewalks and houses lining the sides, but there was still no sign of the
inhabitants. Cars, too, were nonexistent; all available vehicles seemed to have been grabbed in the general
exodus.

Small animals scampered through the streets ahead of them. Not knowing much about the local
fauna, it was hard to say whether the creatures were pets who'd been deserted or some of the larger vermin
that had become bolder in the absence of people. Most of the animals were skittish and stayed well away
from the humans, which was fine with Jules; he hadn't come here to conduct a wildlife survey.

The sun was just setting when they came to a store that sold fabric and clothing. The door was
ajar; the building had been partially ransacked, but most of its inventory was intact. The team entered and
found toweling to dry themselves off. The jumpsuits Jules and Yvette had brought along were sturdy, and
when dry would be as good as new. Lady A's bodysuit seemed similarly durable. The other three team
members, however, looked very much the worse for wear, and they took this opportunity to change into
newer and better outfits. Yvette made sure Tatiana selected good clothing that would keep her warm and
dry.

Jules felt guilty about simply taking merchandise from the store, so he left a note explaining that
SOTE would pay for the articles they'd taken. Lady A watched him without comment, but there were
traces of a bemused smile on her face.

A few doors away they came to a restaurant. It had been many hours since they'd eaten, and
everyone except Lady A was ravenously hungry. The restaurant had been vandalized, too, but not all its
supplies had been taken. Yvette volunteered to be chef and, even though most of the foods were strange to
her, she managed to cook a pretty decent meal that filled them up.

It was completely dark by the time they finished eating, but the street lights had come on outside,
indicating that at least some of the town's automatic mechanisms still functioned. They debated staying in
the restaurant for the night, but there wasn't any place in the cafe to sleep comfortably. Instead they went
down the street and broke into one of the larger homes, where they found beds that were more to their
liking.

They were all dead tired, but Jules insisted they make arrangements for sleeping in shifts. He and
Lady A would take watch for the first shift, Fortier and Ivanov would take the second, and Yvette and
Tatiana would take the third. With that decided, the group settled in for the night.

When they were alone, Lady A turned to Jules. "I can understand that the rest of you need to
sleep, but I see no reason why I should waste my time here with you. I can probably cover the rest of the
town while you're sleeping and give you a thorough report in the morning."

"Part of the reason I'm here is to verify what you say," Jules told her. "I can't do that if you go off
on your own."
 "I'm merely going to eliminate the inessential," she argued back. "By combing the city while the
rest of you sleep, I'll save you valuable time. If I find anything of material interest, I'll make a note of it
and we can all explore it together in the morning."