[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.He seemed unusually tense, but Caineknew it had nothing to do with the upcoming ride.He'd noted earlier in the trip that a specialfriendship existed between Jensen and Novak.and for several minutes after the others were goneJensen was going to be a hellishly big target."Shall I seal up?""Wait'll Lathe gets here," Skyler told him.Seconds later the bay door slid open."Button up, everyone," Lathe called, loping to his pod."Jensen will blow the hatch in less than a minute.When you pop, head due west."Novak reached out and pulled the door closed, plunging the pod into darkness.In his imaginationCaine could see patrol ships diving toward them, threatening to open fire.Jensen would be stalling fortime, claiming mechanical trouble, trying to get them in as close as possibleAnd with a dull blast the pod gave a spine-wrenching lurch.An instant later they were tumblingthrough space, twisting violently as the freighter's turbulence caught them.Fortunately, it was only a few seconds before the pod settled into a relatively stable verticalposition, with air resistance providing a small but noticeable effective weight.Outside, Caine couldhear the faint hiss of air whipping by, and it was all he could do to keep from reminding Skyler towatch the altitude gauge.The minutes dragged by Caine's weight increased steadily as the pod slowed, and he could feelthe floor heating up beneath him.The air around them was getting warm, too, and the scream of theirpassage made conversation impossible.Gripping the straps of his harness, Caine tried to relax."Stand by chute!" Skyler had to shout to be heard."Three, two, one "The first tug, as the drogue popped, was fairly gentle; the second, as the main chute snappedopen, jammed Caine hard into his harness.Almost instantly the scream outside dropped to a whisperas full gravity returned.Getting his slightly trembling legs under him again, Caine took a carefulbreath."Some ride," he commented."You think so?" Skyler said.His face, visible in the faint light of the luminous gauges, showed nomore strain than his voice did."We're thinking of selling it to an amusement center.Okay.We're twoklicks up, breakout's at one-five.Forty seconds everyone set?"There were three affirmatives, and for a moment the pod was silent."Five seconds, braceaaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBBr ryourselves."Caine tightened his grip on his harness and with a jerk the pod's walls split from floor to ceiling.The floor disintegrated, and the sudden inflow of air snapped the walls up like a broken umbrella.Stillfastened by the harness to his section of wall, Caine was thrown outwards as the pod fell apart inmidair.He had time only to notice that they had come in on Argent's night side before somethingsnapped in the wall section which now hung over his head, and, with a loud hissing of compressed airand the clicking of spring-loaded connectors, a shadowy wing unrolled and stiffened above him.Within seconds, Caine found himself lying horizontally in his harness, gliding swiftly through the coldnight air."Caine, you're pointed the wrong way," Skyler's voice said in his ear."Turn about twenty degreesleft."The plastic control bar hung just in front of him, and Caine felt a touch of trepidation as hegrasped it with both hands.He'd trained with grav belts back on Earth, but they were a far cry fromhang gliders.Gingerly, he pulled on the barThe glider turned sharply left, and Caine got a glimpse of other dark wing shapes as he swungpast the indicated direction."Easy, easy," Skyler said."The steering is very sensitive.""Read that 'touchy,' " Caine muttered.He tried again and this time came around more smoothly."Good.One more tap and you should be on course."Caine did so and then took a moment to search the sky."I only see two other gliders," he said."Where is everyone?""Well, I'm above and behind you," Skyler told him."You can't expect all the pods to come downwithin eyeshot of each other.That's why someone always pops early, to act as spotter."A new voice cut in."Skyler, this is Kwon.Hit your UV, will you? Okay, turn it off.Your grouptogether?""Affirmative," Skyler answered."Okay.Shift south; you're about half a klick north of O'Hara.Lathe? Okay; you're ahead ofO'Hara, so just hold course.Haven?" Pause."Yo, Haven? Your UV?""Must be broken," Haven's voice came back."It's okay, though; I can see Skyler ahead and left ofme.""All right," Lathe said."Our target is a wooded area about two klicks north of a medium-sizedtown.It's about thirty klicks away a bit of a stretch but we spotted some hotspots from the ship, sohopefully we'll get some assist from thermals.Kwon'll signal via tingler if the IR shows anythingpromising.Strict radio silence once we're back in tight formation."The two gliders ahead of Caine had turned about fifteen degrees; carefully, he matched themaneuver."Good turn," Skyler commented."Not hard to pick up, is it?""No.Uh, Skyler, what exactly are we going to do once we get to this town?""Contact the local underground, of course.""Fine, but how do we do that? Just walk up to a local and ask for directions?"The blackcollar chuckled."Not at all.It's simpler to let ourselves get captured."aaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBBr rAnd with that the radio went silent."Great," Caine muttered to himself, and then settled down toconcentrate on his flying.Like black-winged wraiths the eleven gliders slid silently along between the stars and the darklandscape.aaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBBr rCHAPTER 10The tingler on Caine's wrist gave notice that the five-hour wait was over: bait returning; plus sixand two vehicles."They're coming," he said unnecessarily, scrambling to his feet and glancing south,as if in the pre-dawn light his eyes could penetrate the forest around them."Yeah, I heard," Hawking said dryly, standing up more leisurely."You sound surprised they gotout.""Little town or not, a jail's still a jail," Caine said.In the clearing, the other four were alreadycollecting backpacks and moving to the shelter of the trees.Spotting Skyler, he walked over to him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]