"Smith, E E Doc - D'alembert 09 - Omicron Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)
Jules and Yvette took off in their own private ship, La Comйte Cuivrй. It was a cozy two-seater, but more than that it was the fastest ship available on such short notice. In going from DesPlaines to Nereid, they would be traversing two-thirds the diameter of the Empire: even at the Comet's top speed, they'd barely make it in time.
They spent a nervous three days in subspace as their ship sped along to their destination. After reading over the background files on Omicron they'd borrowed from Felicitй's extensive library, there was nothing for them to do. Nothing in the history of the Empire had prepared them for the problem of dealing with a new and potentially hostile intelligent race. They moped around the ship, missing their spouses and their children, and wondering what they would say to Lady A when they finally met her face to face on an equal basis. Jules had already encountered her once-but the brief meeting on Gastonia had hardly been conducive to good relationships.
They landed on Nereid with but a couple of hours to spare. The Comet had a berth in it for their private groundcar and, packing their belongings into a couple of small duffle bags, they drove out of the spaceport. The local traffic computer broadcast a streetmap of the area on their car's screen, and Jules drove just a hair inside all traffic laws getting them on time to the hotel that was to be their rendezvous point.
Inside the lobby they met up with Captain Paul Fortier, the third representative of the Empire in their party. The naval officer had barely arrived on Nereid himself, and admitted to being a little groggy with subspace fatigue. Fortier had worked briefly with Yvette before and recognized her face although he didn't know her true name: even at his level he wasn't cleared for such crucial information as that. Yvette merely identified herself as Agent Periwinkle and introduced her brother as Agent Wombat. Fortier, realizing the need for secrecy, accepted the introductions and made no effort to pry further.
The three agents went into the hotel bar and sat at a table together. At precisely three o'clock local time, Lady A walked into the bar. She looked around, spotted the trio, and walked resolutely over to their table.
No matter how much they hated her, the agents of the Empire had to admit their enemy was a ravishingly beautiful woman, with black hair that was a perfect complement to the creaminess of her skin. The jumpsuit she wore was a dark forest green challis set with swirls of dark gray, and emphasized every curve of her supple form. Aimйe Amorat had commissioned this robot body as the perfect receptacle for her devious mind, and her judgment could not be faulted. It was just a pity, they thought, that her sense of morals had not kept pace with her sense of style and taste.
"Since we all know each other," she said coldly, "I see no point in introductions. My companions are already awaiting us in my ship. Time is of the essence in this case; I'd suggest we leave at once."
The trio followed Lady A to her groundcar and climbed in. Lady A set the computer for their destination and leaned back in her seat. The three agents sat a bit more uncomfortably.
After an awkward silence, Yvette spoke up boldly. "I suppose you know this was not our choice of assignments."
"Of course," Lady A said evenly. "It was mine. I believe in picking the best people for the job, no matter how distasteful or disagreeable they are."
She smiled wickedly and added, "I have no immediate intention of stabbing you in your sleep, but I suppose you'll want to sleep in shifts anyway."
"The precaution had occurred to us," Jules said, "especially when we're dealing with a woman who'd coldbloodedly kill her own granddaughter."
The shot hit home. Lady A closed her eyes and took a deep breath for a sigh, even though her robot body didn't really need to breathe. "It was her own willful disobedience and stupidity that killed her. I drilled it into her head over and over that if she obeyed my commands without question or hesitation, she would end up well off. I asked for absolute faith and she did not give it. Instead, she doubted me and took matters into her own hands. She paid the price for that. The booby-trapped escape ship was meant for you. If she'd trusted me, she'd be alive today and you would be dead."
"You say that so coldly," Yvette said. "Don't you feel anything?"
"How can I? I've got a machine body and a computer mind on which my mental pattern has been impressed. I have no hormones or other chemicals drifting through my bloodstream interfering with the purity of my thoughts. I had emotions once. I remember what they are. As an actress, I can even fake them most convincingly. On an intellectual level I know what I would have felt if I were still in a mortal body. Tanya was my granddaughter, my last remaining descendant. I will have no more biological progeny, no one else to pass on my spark of life. As an old woman I would have wept great tears at that tragedy.
"But in my present form, all that's superfluous. I don't need to dilute myself genetically until a paler form like Tanya emerges. My mind can go on forever. If this body wears out, I can have more built. It gives me a patience and a perspective you mortals can never match; that's why I'm bound to win our little struggle."
"Dr Loxner thought he was immortal, too," Fortier pointed out.
"Loxner was a foolish genius," Lady A said. "He tied his mind up in a cumbersome form that could neither escape nor defend itself adequately. I tried to talk him out of it, but he kept telling me what greater scope his super computer asteroid gave him. He didn't leave himself any back door. That's the key to any success, of course-a back door, a way out if things fall apart around you."
"In other words," Yvette said sarcastically, "you abandon your colleagues when the going gets rough and save your own skin. That's nice to know as we head into a working relationship with you where our lives may depend on you-and yours will depend on us."
If Lady A was perturbed by the criticism, she refused to show it. "In this case, the success of the mission is more important than any of us," she said. "If the choice is to save you or get back to Earth with vital information, I'd sacrifice you without a moment's hesitation. I assume you've been trained well enough to hold the same values."
"Certainly," Yvette replied. "In fact, I'd welcome the chance to sacrifice you."
"As long as you keep in mind that the Empire may need me as an ally to rally my fleet if this is an alien attack. Ah, we've reached my ship."
Lady A's ship stood alone on a private landing field well outside the city limits of Cochinburg, Nereid's capital. It stood impressively on its tail, nose pointed at the sky, a much bigger ship than a mere six people should need for basic transportation. When Fortier mentioned that, the woman's reply was, "We don't know what we're heading into. A smaller ship might be faster and more maneuverable, but we need some solid defense capability as well. From the report I got, the enemy is very aggressive about patrolling the space around Omicron; my operative took off in secret, and even so barely managed to escape alive. They don't want to let anyone in to get a look at them, which isn't surprising-they want to keep the element of surprise as much as possible.
"As long as there's a chance of fighting, I want to be able to fight back. This ship, the H-16, is as well armed as a naval vessel three times its size. Stealth is fine, subtlety is fine, but superior firepower never hurts."
They climbed the steep ramp into the ship itself, and the hatch closed impersonally behind them. Jules, Yvette, and Fortier exchanged concerned glances. From this point on, they would have to consider themselves in enemy territory, even when they were alone with their "allies." This was not going to be a comfortable mission.
Lady A led them onto the ship's bridge, a hemispherical chamber with ten acceleration couches facing consoles around the perimeter. There they met the other two members of their team. One was a man who seemed tall, although he was of fairly normal height; because Jules and Yvette were from a three-gee world and Fortier's family had also come from DesPlaines at one time, they were all somewhat shorter than average. This new comrade, though, was a well-muscled, intelligent looking chap with dark, short cut hair and thick lips that tended to scowl. He had bushy eyebrows and a nose that had been broken several times in fights. He moved with the self-assured grace of a person who could handle himself in an emergency-just the sort of ally to have in a situation like this.
The other member, though, was a surprise-a young woman shorter than Yvette and so slender she looked almost sickly. The appearance of ill-health was accentuated by the fact that she was an albino with a mane of yellow-white hair and teary, pinkish eyes. She looked as though a sudden breeze might blow her over, and she did not seem at all confident surrounded by these imposing physical specimens.
Lady A introduced her colleagues as Ivanov and Tatiana. Those aren't their real names, of course," she added, "but true identities seem to be a luxury in our circles. Only Captain Fortier and myself are being honest about who we are."
"Meaning no offense to Tatiana," Jules said, "I'd like to know what qualifications she has for being along on this mission. You and Ivanov are obvious, and the three of us, but . . ."
"Brawn is not everything," Lady A said in superior tones. "Tatiana has a remarkable gift for linguistics. If we do end up finding a totally alien race, her talents will prove invaluable. In addition to her natural abilities, which are considerable, she's been given a computer implant auxiliary memory. Every alien symbol she sees written down, every syllable of alien speech she hears -complete with inflection-will be permanently recorded. If they use written symbols at all or speak within a sound range humans can hear, Tatiana will decipher it, given a little time."
"I can see how her skills are important," Fortier nodded, "but she looks so fragile. We may be in for a rough time and hard fighting. Can she hold up under those conditions?"
"It will be our job-all of us-to see that she does," Lady A declared. "It won't do us a bit of good to penetrate enemy headquarters and discover we don't know the difference between their battle plans and their duty rosters. In many respects, Tatiana is the most important person on this mission. We must see to it that she's protected at all costs."
The young woman, obviously very shy, was intimidated by so much talk about her. Her face flushed a peculiar deep shade of pink as she tried unsuccessfully to hide herself from view. Failing to escape notice, she simply said, "I'll handle myself smoothly, you'll see. I'm not a baby. I don't have to be pampered."
"There are obviously those of us who have more faith in you than others," Lady A said, seeing the expression of doubt still on Jules's face. "However, since it's a matter not subject to debate, we'll all have to live with it. Now that we're all together, I'd suggest we leave at once. Every second we lose is . . ."
"Just a minute," Jules said. "There's one point still to be settled."
"What's that?" Lady A asked impatiently.
"The six of us are going into a dangerous situation. Not only our individual safety, but the safety of the group and the success of the mission will depend on how well we work together. In moments of life-or-death crisis we can't stop to take a vote or discuss plans among ourselves. There has to be one person in the team with the ultimate authority to make snap decisions that everyone must obey instantly. Without that, we're bound to fall apart. We have to decide now, while we can discuss it calmly and rationally, just who the team leader is going to be."
"It's obviously me," Lady A said imperiously. "I assembled the team. I have seniority, I have a mind uncluttered by emotions . . ."
"Kittledung!" Jules exclaimed. "None of those things is worth a damn in field situations. What counts is experience. I'll grant you've had a lot of good experience at running and hiding-but you've never had to work on a secret mission where you had to obtain hidden information and get out alive. It's a whole different set of problems requiring a whole different set of skills and decisions to be made. I don't care how uncluttered your mind is, or how strong and fast your robot body is. You don't have the experience that counts. Fortier, Periwinkle and I do. I don't know about Ivanov, and therefore I'm inclined to doubt. But I know it can't be you."
Lady A glared into Jules's face. Jules glared right back. For a long instant the scene on the bridge was frozen in time as two strong wills clashed in silent battle. Then, unexpectedly, Lady A smiled.
"Khorosho," she said. "I chose you for your expertise, I might as well take advantage of it. I think we can all agree on you as team leader. In emergencies, yours will be the one voice for the group-but in more casual circumstances, I at least will expect to have a significant say."
Jules looked at Yvette and Fortier, who both nodded acceptance of him as leader. "Smooth," he said to Lady A.
"However," the woman continued, "this is my ship and I will pilot it. Captain Fortier may be co-pilot if you like. I gather you're something of a hotshot flier yourself, but my reflexes really do work to best advantage in this circumstance. As pilot, I expect captain's prerogative to be absolute master of my vessel. Your jurisdiction begins once we're safely on Omicron. Agreed?"
"Agreed," Jules said. He was still in mild shock over how easy his battle with Lady A had been; he'd expected a much harder fight to win the team leadership away from her. Lady A would not enjoy taking orders from anyone, particularly from him, but she was an intelligent woman. As she'd said, she'd chosen him because he was good at this sort of thing, and he bet she could swallow her pride enough to listen to him when it mattered.
With the technicalities finally settled, they were ready for takeoff. Lady A assigned the Empire's agents to three acceleration couches within the hemispherical bridge, while she worked the ship's major controls herself. The H-16 lifted majestically off the small private landing field, leaping into space. Despite all reservations and misgivings, the mission to learn the secret of the Omicron invasion had begun.
CHAPTER 5
Stranded
Nereid was close enough to the Omicron system that the flight would only take a few hours. They were hours the team tried to use wisely.
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