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below.
Fryer drew back from the window so they couldn't see him, then lay prone on
the floor and continued to fire from that position.
The next time he pulled the trigger there was only an angry hiss from the gun.
"Bloody hell!" he muttered savagely as he rolled over and inverted the gun to
bang the muzzle on the floor. The misfired grenade slid out and dropped free,
smoking and sputtering. He clutched at it, grabbed it up cursing at his burnt
hand, then threw it through the window. There was an explosion just below
followed by screams of pain.
Serve the bastards right, he thought, getting too close. He scrambled to the
door, ignoring the pain in his hand, and fired the next one down the
stairwell. There were more shouts and a spray of bullets that passed over his
head. That would keep them busy for a bit.
There were only two grenades left when they broke the door down. He fired one
of them at the attacking men and was reaching for the very last grenade when
the bullets tore through him. He died quickly, lying on his back under the
windo~~~
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logy%20(UC).txt looking up at the clouds of smoke blowing by outside.
Eighteen
Admiral Comrade Kapustin felt very secure, very secure indeed. He whistled
lightly through his teeth while he pulled his high leather boots on, then
stood and smoothed down his tunic before the mirror, pulling at it so it
bloused out nicely above the wide leather belt. The rows of medals and
decorations clinked gently when he strode to the door and threw it open. There
was a clatter and a stamp as the marine guard outside drew himself up to
attention. The Admiral touched his fingertips idly to the visor of his cap to
return the salute as he strode by. The great day was here at last! His heels
slammed into the deckplates even more heavily than usual so that his spurs
jingled lightly. If anyone saw anything incongruous in boots and spurs in aI
spaceship, 200,000 miles from the nearest horse, they made no comment. The
fate of anyone who dared to even smile in the direction of Admiral Comrade
Kapustin was too awful to even consider.
When he entered the War Room the Admiral's aide, 3 Onyegin, was ready as
always.
Clicking his heels and bowing slightly as he held out the silver tray. The
Admiral ft downed the little glass of frigid vodka in a single gulp, 4 then
took one of the papirossi cigarettes; the aide produced a burning wooden taper
to light it.
"Today is the day, Onyegin," the Admiral said, expel I ling a cloud of
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aromatic smoke. "The first space battle in history will be taking place soon,
and I shall be the first officer ever to win one. A place in the history
books. Any change in their course?"
"None, Comrade Admiral. You can see for yourself:' He snapped orders at the
Tank operator who activated the hologram field to show the course of the
approaching enemy fleet. The Admiral stamped over to stand before the glowing
display. It occupied a space of almost thirty cubic meters, taking up the
entire center of the
War Room. The display was of course three dimensional and could be viewed from
any side. A group of glowing symbols sprang into view in the Tank, terminating
in a dotted white line that ran up and out of sight.
"Their course so far," Onyegin said, "and the eprojecI tion into the future."
A
second broken line of light, this time red, extended down from the enemy fleet
to
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Harrison, Harry - To the Stars Trilogy.txt end at floor level.
"Good," the Admiral grunted. "Now where will this take them?"
The small blue sphere of the Earth snapped into existence, surrounded by her
captive satellites and orbiting Moon. The line of the course passed them all
by.
"That is the projection as of this moment, not taking into consideration any
future changes," Onyegin said. "However there are still course alterations
possible. Like this."
The red line fanned out into a number of arcs, each one of them terminating at
one of the objects in space. The Admiral grunted again.
"Earth, the Moon, power satellites, colonies, anything. Well that's why we are
here, Onyegin, learn that lesson. We defend Earth. Those criminals must pass
us to work their mischief, and that will not be an easy thing to do. And my
old friend
Skougaard is leading them. What a pleasure! I shall personally execute the
traitor when he is captured. Vodka!"
He downed another glassful, then seated himself in his command chair where he
had a perfect view of the Tank, the pickup microphone beside his head
swiveling automatically to follow his every move.
"The fighting so far has been sordid, just filthy stabs in the back. Bombs and
mines and treachery. They have not only been traitors, but cowards as well who
have fled our wrath, then sent us packing with missiles from planetary bases.
That is all over now. We have had enough time to lick our wounds, to organize
and regroup. Now we~are on the defensive and they must come out and meet us.
What a shock they will get when they do that. Let me see the latest
photographs."
The astronomers on the Earth-orbiting 13-meter optical telescope had protested
when ordered to photograph the approaching fleet. Their enormous metal
reflecting mirror was designed for completely different purposes, they said.
Shielded from the sun, with no atmosphere to dim its vision, it could
penetrate the mysteries of the
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logy%20(UC).txt incredibly distant galaxies, examine closely the separate star
systems thousands of light years beyond our own. Important research was in
progress; this was no military toy to spy out invaders. Their attitude had
changed abruptly when a score of
Security men had arrived on the next shuttle from Earth. Ways were found to
look at the attacking
The rebel spacers filled the tank now. Fuzzy and gray, but still distinct,
stretched out in a long arc.
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"The flagship, the Dannebrog," Admiral Kapustin ~dered.
The ship in the center of the attacking line swelled up until it was a meter [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]