[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

a bellringer, until she bumped the fence and rebounded through a considerable arc.
At the far end of one such swing, she cut off the screen field and fell clear of the
harness that had bound it. Nevertheless, she landed so close to the fence that his
heart stopped for a moment.
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
She picked herself up.  Okay, we re in. Actual laughter sounded beneath the
wind.  Koskinen and Cordeiro, Cat Burglars by appointment to His Majesty Tybalt
I, King of the Cats. C mon, let s swipe us some transportation.
They crossed more weeds and the tarmac airstrip to the hangar. Vivienne would
have shot out the lock if necessary, but the door opened for them as they neared.
The space within was huge and dim. Koskinen gaped about at the machines.
Somehow they made him feel he had wandered into a more ancient past than even
the, towers on Mars. You see, he told himself, this is my past. My great-grandfather
must have ridden in a car like these.
This is my planet. Anger gathered in him. I don t like what they have done
to her.
He suppressed emotion, got some tools off a workbench, and busied himself. In
an hour he had chosen his vehicle. The nameplate called it a De Havilland 4 day
bomber, a big two-winged machine, two open cockpits, less dash than the Spads or
Fokkers but a certain unpretentious ruggedness that pleased him. Between an
operator s manual and his Mars-taught feeling for tightness, he deduced how to fly
it. They rolled it out onto the strip, fuelled it from a pump, and turned off the radar
sentinels.
 Take the rear seat and use the auxiliary controls to start her, he told
Vivienne.  I showed you how. I ll crank the propeller.
She regarded him with a sudden intensity.  We might crash, or get shot down,
or anything, you know,  she said.
 Yes. He shrugged.  That s been understood right along.
 I  She took his hands.  I want you to know something. In case I don t get
another chance to tell you.
He looked into the brown eyes and waited.
 That detonator, she said.  It s a fake.
 What?
 Or I should say, the detonator works but the bomb doesn t. Her laugh caught
in her throat.  When Zigger told me to make that thing for you...we d been talking
half the night, you and I, remember?...I couldn t do it. There s no explosive in that
capsule. Only talcum powder.
 What? he whispered again.
 I didn t tell them at Abrams s place. They d have substituted a real bomb
then, and I d never have been able to trigger it but someone else might have. Now
Well, I wanted you to know, Pete.
She tried to withdraw her hands, but he caught them and wouldn t let go.
 That s the truth, Vee?
 Yes. Why should you doubt me?
 I don t, he said. He rallied his entire courage, drew the detonator from his
pocket, and snicked off the safety. She watched him through tears. He pressed the
button.
With a whoop, he tossed the object into the weeds, kissed her with inexpert
violence, stammered something about her being his crewmate and Sharer-of-Hopes
and much else, kissed her again, and lifted her bodily to the rear cockpit. She
nestled among the machine guns there and took the stick in a dazed fashion. He
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
swung the heavy wooden propeller down with more strength than he had known he
had.
The engine coughed to life. Exhaust fumes grew pungent in his nose. He sprang
onto the lower wing and thence to the front seat. Vivienne relinquished her own
controls. Koskinen spent a minute listening to the engines and noting the many
vibrations. It seemed right to him. He taxied forward, accelerating. The plane left
earth with a joyous little jump unlike anything he had ever felt before.
Vivienne had shown him their destination on a map. He found he could follow
the landmarks without much trouble at this leisurely pace. Elkor s training of
nerves and muscles made piloting simple after the first few minutes.
The plane was a roaring, shuddering, odorous, cranky thing to fly. But fun. He [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]