[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.And now suddenly, as Harry was sitting in the bar, she came in through the doorway he was watching, dressed in her new coverall with her own lieutenant's badge on the collar.He thought she looked better than ever."Ready to go, Harry?""Ready as I'm going to be.How about you?""Same here.And the captain and his crew are ready.""I bet.How about the emperor?""Oh, he'll show up.Julius and his prize crew." Becky paused."I sure can pick'em, can't I?""You picked me, kid, once upon a time.As I remember.""Sure, Harry." Becky looked at her wrist."Only about two hours to go to liftoff.I just had a nap.You should be resting.""I am.This is how I rest.Sitting in a bar."And that was the moment when all the alarms went off.Again.People had endured their last briefing for the ordeal into which they were about to plunge, and some of them were starting their final checklists, when once more the noise and flashing lights came crashing into their awareness.Whatever entity had triggered the alarms showed no manners at all, interrupting without any consideration.Right in the middle of someone's conversation, the first sound and visual signal of the alarm.Harry and Becky had been trying to say good-bye, or trying to find a way to do so.They had become reconciled to the fact that according to Marut's plan, they were not going into battle aboard the same ship.But if this new alarm was the real thing, if it meant battle, it would not be the battle they had been trying to rehearse.Harry Silver got automatically to his feet.Of one thing he was mortally sure: No one aboard the base was crazy enough to have picked this hour, this minute, to call a practice alert.Harry's mouth was suddenly going dry.But his first thought brought with it a certain wry inward lightening of spirits: If we're all killed here in the next hour, at least we're not going to have to Page 102ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlcarry out that damn fool attack.FIFTEENThey were both headed for the door, but before Harry reached it, he was stopped in his tracks by an order fromCommander Normandy, coming through on his personal communicator: "Silver, we're in a red alert.I want you to go and make sure those launches all get off." She'd discussed the difficulties in detail with him during the days of preparation, and there was no need now to spell out her doubts about the dependability of every component in the mix, from the assigned pilots through the hardware."Yes, ma'am."Becky had come to a stop also, and she was looking back at him."Take theWitch for me, kid," Harry said."Suddenly I've got another job." In the now never-to-be-accomplished attack on Summerland, she'd been assigned to fly a cluster of Marut's pet pods, but suddenly the game was drastically changed.Now no one was going to try to tow pods into action, and Becky could be vitally effective aboard a real fighting ship.She had heard the communication, too."We'll be a couple of minutes anyway, getting up.I'll try to wait for you."He might be able to catch up that quickly, or he might not.There was no time for Harry to kiss her before they parted, but he took time anyway.If the berserkers were coming, they could wait ten seconds more.Then they were both moving, running, Becky quickly several strides ahead of him.And at the last moment, he wanted to call her back, to make sure that she stayed with him no matter what happened.When their paths of duty separated, he watched her out of sight, the graceful figure moving at a flying run around a corner.Harry moved on, at a run too, the sound of his boots joining others that were pounding through the corridors.His absence from the control cabin of the Witch would doubtless delay matters a little, so Becky would probably be the last to lift off.But that might not matter a whole lot.And Harry would worry less about his woman and his ship if one was aboard the other.Of all the people on the base, only a few were wearing armor, and getting suited was the first order of business for almost everyone still on the ground.Not all the people Harry saw were running to arm themselves, or to reach their battle stations.During the very first moments after this latest alarm had sounded, some seemed reluctant, for some reason, to take the signal at face value.Here and there, they grumbled at the annoyance.Things weren't supposed to develop this way.The damned buzzers and bells again-what was it this time?Another intrusion by a berserker scout? Maybe those crazy Home Guard people from Gee Eye, showing up where they were not supposed to be.When Harry reached the place where the little ships were trying to get space-borne, he could see that ClaireNormandy's instincts had been correct and help was needed, at least with one or two of them.One relatively inexperienced pilot was having a problem with his helmet-it turned out that he only thought he was, but his ship was just as effectively immobilized.Harry crouched beside him, describing the right Page 103ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlprocedure, step by step, in a calm voice.In half a minute, the difficulty had been solved.Up until an hour ago, Marut had still been arguing that Harry shouldn't be allowed to lift off in his own ship.More than once the captain made the dire prediction that the Witch would head straight out and not come back.Almost immediately there were indications that this berserker incursion was rather more serious than the last one.A robot voice, speaking in the helmets of everyone still inside the base or on the field, informed them that the presence of the enemy in force, in-system, was now confirmed.Six to eight unidentified objects, moving in loose formation, had emerged from flightspace about two hours ago, out on the system's fringes.The projected flight paths converged on Hyperborea.A couple of minutes later, the number of eight bandits was confirmed.Each Solarian reacted in his or her own way to the realization that most of their planning and effort over the past few days had been utterly wasted-whatever the outcome of this defensive battle they were being forced to fight, they wouldn't be making any attack on Summerland
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]