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.The Agitar tied thin copper wire to the hilts of their tasts and prepared to throw, being careful that theydidn't get tangled as they moved away.Firing was coming from the hive, but it was intermittent after the fuel dump; the burning smell and feel ofthe liquid had driven them back under where it had hit, and the stuff now pretty well saturated the top ofthe hive.The copper wire unreeled, ten meters, twenty, as the leading second wave was covered by, but notfollowed in by, its backups.The Agitar were nearing the limits of the wire reel, and, when the mark wasreached on the reel, they energized the wire with their hands.Energy flowed along the wires; electricity followed its natural pathway in this semitech hex.Though onlythe Agitar would hold a charge here, it was enough.Where the tasts had stuck in the hive in places that had been wetted down by the flammable liquids, anddespite Djukasis efforts to get the tasts out and throw them to the ground, the energy charge struck.It only took one.The liquid burst into flame with a roar; a chemical fire that even the oncoming storm would behard-pressed to slow.The Makiem on the ground cheered as the blue-white flame and billowing smoke showed success, andthey grasped their own weapons and prepared to charge, rain or no.With sudden explosive fury, the storm hit, turning the field in front of the hive to a low-visibility quagmire inseconds.The Makiem, who liked rain and muddy weather, leaped for all they were worth.As Renard turned from the hive, amazed at the fact that he and Doma were still untouched as it was, hefelt the storm hit.For the first time he started to think, instead of act on instinct.If he just relaxed, he knewthat Doma would fly back to the base camp; the horse had an unerring instinct for getting back to whereshe had started from.Looking around in the driving rain, he was just barely able to make out the Djukasistrying to get back to the hive but being knocked out of the air by the force of the rain.A Cebu almostpanicked him, flying across directly in front, but it was on a different errand.The great flying reptilesweren't much better in the rain than the Djukasis, and were going to ground fast.The water beaded and rolled off Doma's back.Yet there were severe updrafts and downdrafts that thegreat horse could not avoid, so it was a rocky ride, smoothed only slightly by the horse's apparent abilityto see changes in air pressure.When Renard saw the direction Doma was taking, a million doubtsassailed him.If he deserted, he would have to fly through the teeth of the storm, perhaps battle isolatedback-country Djukasis on his way.And, once in Lata, he'd be a castout, a man who could never go homeagain.But he felt little loyalty for the Agitar, although he liked them as individuals.He could not get away fromthe fact that, behind all of the terrible carnage he had witnessed and had been a part of, there was thegrinning, self-satisfied egomania of Antor Trelig.And Mavra Chang.Somehow, he knew, she had saved him, somehow her unwillingness to be defeatedhad kept him alive.For what? To be killed in the next battle, in the next hex, in Antor Trelig's cause?No! his mind shouted to him.Never! He owed her, and, in a different way, he owed Antor Treligsomething, too.So he gently pulled and turned the great green pegasus to the right, far to the right, and headed into thefury about him.South ZoneThe Czillian, Vardia, entered Ortega's increasingly cluttered offices, a mass of computer printouts anddiagrams clutched in its two tentacles.Ortega was just switching off from an intercom communication andglanced up as the plant-creature entered."New data?" he asked, sounding more resigned than happy at the prospect.Vardia nodded."We have run the projections through the computers at the center.Things don't lookgood."Ortega wasn't surprised.Nothing looked good any more."What have you got?" he asked glumly.The Czillian spread out the charts as well as some diagrams [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]