"Smith, E E Doc - D'alembert 09 - Omicron Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

"Ships," Jules said.
Lady A nodded. "It would appear that way." She took the lists from Tatiana's hands and gave them a quick skim. "There's well over a thousand listings here, so this can't be just a roster of their ships on Omicron. It may be a partial or complete listing of their entire fleet."
She tucked the cards into an interior pocket of her bodysuit. "We don't have to do a detailed analysis now; we can leave that to the experts when we get back. It's enough to know it's something of importance. Keep looking, there's got to be more treasure around here."
Encouraged by her success, Tatiana approached her task with renewed vigor. Within a couple of minutes she'd made another discovery. "Looks like a series of star maps," she said. "And here's a list of coordinates. I'm not sure how they relate to our own coordinate system . . ."
"Any competent astronomer can figure that out," Lady A said impatiently. "We'll take those along with us, too."
"It's a good bet nearly everything on this desk is of some value," Jules said. "We can't take the whole thing with us. I've got a better idea. Spread those cards and papers out on the desktop, face up."
As Tatiana complied with his instructions, Jules reached into the utility pouch at his waist and took out a miniature camera. He began snapping pictures at a furious rate. "This also has the advantage," he commented as he worked, "that we leave the originals behind, so the enemy won't be sure how much information we got from them. The more confusion the better."
Lady A said nothing, but Jules noticed she was looking over his shoulder and staring intently at the documents spread out on the desktop. He reminded himself once more that, despite her body's perfectly human appearance, she was really a remarkably clever machine. She was stronger and faster than any human being, and she could see quite clearly in almost no light at all. There was no reason to suppose she didn't have a photographic memory system built into her as well. He hardly expected her to tell him the intimate details of her construction, but he was willing to bet she was also photographing these papers for redundancy.
He said nothing about his suspicions aloud, but continued photographing all the documents in a professional manner. When he finished, he replaced the material approximately where they'd found it, so the aliens would have a hard time knowing what they'd seen and what they hadn't.
"A high-ranking officer usually surrounds himself with his top aides," Lady A said. "The desks immediately around here might also have important information. Tatiana, can you make a quick check?"
The young woman hastened to comply. The very next desk was virtually devoid of any written material, but the one beyond that was filled with the printed cards that seemed to be the aliens' favorite publishing format, Tatiana leafed through them quickly, until she came to some that caused her to slow down.
"I think I've really found something here," she said quietly. "It's a list of some of those same ship names with coordinates and dates. It's talking about large-scale coordination and logistics."
"It might just be a list of past military maneuvers," Lady A said.
"Most of the verbs are in future tense," Tatiana insisted. "If I had to bet money, I'd say these are future plans of some sort."
Jules needed no further encouragement, and began taking pictures of these documents as well. Lady A repeated her action of looking over his shoulder while he was doing the photography, increasing his suspicion that she was also recording the information for her own use. Jules didn't see any harm in that, as long as the Empire also had a copy-but he would make sure his camera and its electronic recordings were delivered intact to the Head.
He'd just finished the photography and was putting the cards away again when Lady A straightened up. "We've got company coming," she said in calm but urgent tones.
Jules made a mental note that her hearing must be extra sensitive as well; he hadn't heard anything yet, and he was usually pretty good at detecting such things. He began almost to envy her advantages. Nevertheless, he took her word for it and pulled out his blaster. Lady A and Tatiana did the same, and the three took defensive positions where they could cover the doors at either end of the building.
A few seconds later, squads of alien soldiers burst into the building from both ends, and the air was quickly filled with the light and heat of blasterbolts. The fierce energies involved charged the very atmosphere, leaving the strong smell of ozone characteristic of prolonged blaster battles.
Jules, Tatiana and Lady A were pinned in a crossfire near the center of the long building. In the initial exchange of fire they managed to hit a few of the aliens before the enemy was able to dig in to positions of their own. The green-skinned soldiers kept pouring energy into the center at a prodigious rate, hoping to burn their opponents out into the open. A few of the nearby desks caught fire, and the flames threatened to spread to the partitions between the offices, giving the Empire team fewer objects to hide behind safely.
Jules looked around. This would be the ideal time for a retreat, but the aliens had both the doors covered. The building had no windows, but the walls appeared to be of a plastic fabric that was open to suggestions. When there aren't any exits, make your own, Jules thought in desperation.
Turning, he directed his blaster's energy behind him instead of at the enemy soldiers. The plastic fabric was amazingly tough, but eventually it yielded to the heat of the beam trained on it. Within a couple of minutes Jules had cut a gash wide enough for the three humans to slip through. Lady A had watched what he was doing and said nothing disapproving, so Jules assumed she agreed with his idea.
"Let's go!" he cried when the hole was big enough and, taking the lead, he raced through the newly created slot in the building's wall. The edges of the fabric were still glowing from the heat of his beam, but he was through the hole and out into the darkness of night before he had much chance to feel it. Behind him, Tatiana and Lady A made the same dash for freedom through the slot he'd carved.
After the exchange of blaster beams and the fires spreading through the building, the night air felt wonderfully cool against Jules's skin. There was little time to enjoy the sensation, though; the aliens were pouring out the doors again, trying to get a clear shot at them in the open. Jules raced up the hill to a spot behind the boulder where they'd waited before the raid. Behind him, Tatiana tripped but Lady A swept the young woman up in her arms as though she were scarcely heavier than a pillow and carried her at top speed to the hiding place beside Jules. The head of the conspiracy was not about to lose her special translator at this stage of the game.
They'd made it out of one trap, but their position was not much better here. They had more room to retreat up the hill behind them if they chose, but the aliens still outnumbered them and would be coming in pursuit if they fled. Lady A might be able to go on forever, but Jules knew there were limits even to his DesPlainian endurance. Those limits would be reached quickly if he had to run uphill away from followers determined to kill him.
As his mind was sorting out various alternatives, a new factor entered the picture. Swooping down from the sky like a silent avenger came the copterbus, piloted by Captain Fortier. The craft zoomed recklessly toward one group of the aliens clustered at the near door of the building, cruising just a couple of meters above the ground and forcing the creatures to take cover. From out of the copter's passenger hatch came a blaster beam that cut down several of the soldiers. Jules gave a whoop of triumph at the sudden reappearance of their allies. Lady A looked at him with distaste, but at this moment he didn't care whether she thought him childishly emotional. He was happy to see his comrades, especially now.
The copterbus zoomed parallel to the side of the building, buzzing the aliens who'd come out of the other door, temporarily forcing them back inside. With the area momentarily cleared of fighting, the copter slued around and landed right in front of the boulder where the three fugitives were hiding. The passenger door opened invitingly.
Jules and the others did not need further prompting. Racing out from behind their cover, they ducked below the rapidly swirling copter blades and clambered awkwardly into the waiting craft. Jules and Lady A helped Tatiana in first, then scrambled aboard themselves. Fortier barely waited for them to be inside before making a rapid vertical ascent.
The aliens came streaming out of the building again, firing at the retreating copter to no avail as the craft flew off into the nighttime sky.
CHAPTER 11
Escape from Omicron
Jules quickly scanned the copter's cabin and, to his delighted surprise, saw a scuffed and tired looking Yvette seated beside Fortier. He gave her a broad smile and a clenched fist sign for victory, which she acknowledged with a brief nod and a smile of her own. No words needed to be spoken; the bond between brother and sister was so strong it bordered, at times, on telepathy.
Lady A had also been checking on the cabin's occupants. "Where's Ivanov?" she asked.
"He didn't make it out," Fortier said in neutral tones.
"But you did manage to rescue Periwinkle." Lady A's voice made the simple statement sound like an accusation.
"The two incidents were not related," Fortier said in a coolly military manner. "Ivanov didn't lose his life saving hers."
"I didn't think he'd be that foolish," was Lady A's comment, letting it be known that the subject was now closed.
After a moment's awkward silence, Fortier asked, "Khorosho, where do we go from here?"
"I think we've got all the information we can expect on this mission," Lady A said. "The enemy certainly knows we're here and will keep everything well hidden from now on. We'd best get back to Earth while we still can."
Yvette and Fortier looked over to Jules. While Lady A's opinions were certainly important, they'd already voted Jules team leader; it would have to be his decision whether they stayed or left.
Jules considered the matter. The problem was that he didn't know for sure just how much information they'd actually gotten. Tatiana had some hints that these documents were important, and right now she was the only expert they had. He had to take her word for some things. Still, she hadn't read any of those documents in their entirety. No matter how promising they looked, they could end up being mere dross. He and Yvette had a certain reputation for bringing in important, reliable information. He'd hate to bring these documents back to the Head, only to have them turn out worthless.
On the other hand, Lady A was right. The aliens had been alerted that a spy team was on Omicron and was after military information. If there were any other bases on Omicron housing important data, they would be tightly guarded from now on. This small team, as poorly equipped as it was, would not easily penetrate those defenses. Looked at from that standpoint, it was a miracle they'd accomplished as much as they had. Any more assaults like tonight's would certainly result in more deaths on the team, with no guarantee of any further results.
Besides, even if the documents he'd photographed were totally useless, the mission could not be called a failure. They'd learned that the invaders were definitely alien beings, and they'd learned a little about their language and military strategy. They'd seen the alien weapons in operation and, if they escaped at all, it would be on board an alien ship-which would give the experts even more of an insight into the enemy's technology and method of thinking. All this was infinitely more than the Empire had when it dispatched the team to Omicron.
"She's right," he said aloud. "We've got all we can get. Let's leave while there's any chance at all."
Fortier nodded and flew the copterbus high over the dark landing field, giving them a clear panorama of the possibilities. "We've got a wide selection to choose from," he commented.
Lady A, who had the best night vision, leaned forward and studied the field from the front window. "We want something big enough for the five of us," she said, "but not too cumbersome. Speed is most important now. We'll have to get away, and you can be sure they'll try to stop us."
After a brief conference, they decided on one scout-sized ship near the north end of the field with its main hatch ajar. Once again they would have to bet the success of the mission on Tatiana's linguistic talents. The layout and controls of the alien ship would be different than they were used to in human vessels, and Tatiana would have to tell them where the various controls were, how they were calibrated, and how they were meant to operate. And they would have to assimilate all this knowledge in record time if they were to make their getaway.
Reaching the ship of their choice, though, proved a little more difficult than they'd hoped. As their copterbus descended toward the landing field, a set of floodlights came on to illuminate the area as bright as daytime. Heavy-duty blasters mounted around the perimeter of the field began firing at the small craft, and Fortier suddenly had to do some fancy piloting to steer his way through the obstacle course of energy beams. A few of the deadly rays hit their mark, and the copterbus rocked with the impact those beams had on the metal plating of its hull.
In a desperate maneuver, Fortier sent the copter on a steep dive, plummeting between the rows of silently standing starships. Once they got below a certain angle the heavy-duty blasters could no longer fire at them for fear of hitting their own ships. There were still likely to be ground troops shooting at them, but the big artillery was silenced-at least for the moment.
Fortier threaded a course through the maze of ships until they reached the one they'd selected for their escape. The copter hit ground with an ungentle bump, and its passengers scrambled out the hatches on either side. Yvette and Lady A took the lead up the ladder into the alien scoutship, with Jules and Fortier helping Tatiana bring up the rear. By unspoken agreement the two women in front split up once they got inside the hatch, Lady A moving gun in hand toward the front of the ship and Yvette moving to the rear. They encountered no alien soldiers stationed aboard the ship, and came back to give the all-clear signal to the rest of the party. The other three hurriedly joined them.
They went immediately to the bridge, where Tatiana set about the crucial task of interpreting the ship's controls. The control room was arranged in a heptagonal shape, with seven acceleration couches facing one to each side. The couches would be cramped for human-sized passengers, even DesPlainians, but they would have to do.