[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.""Well, gringo, that's a little problem." Villa took a bottle of root beer froma 'bot and swigged at it."See, it's the Federales holding these people.Ifthey was my prisoners, I'd be glad to let you talk to them, if I hadn't shotthem already.Carranza's people, though, they ain't so reasonable.Right nowthey're on bad terms with just about every country in the world except theGermans.Strangers show up, they ain't very friendly.""What's to stop us from shooting our way in?" Jemal asked.Villa grinned."That's the kind of talk I like.Won't work, though.See, thecapital is also where Mon-tezuma's got his palace, and he don't let nobody getPage 74 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html181John Maddox Roberts within a hundred kilometers of the palace in no ship,especially not in a warship.""How would he stop us?" Haakon asked."French seventy-fives wouldn't do thejob.""Are you serious?" Villa said."He's got brujos that can call up demons bigenough to eat your ship.""Wouldn't even burp," Fierro added."No," Villa went on, "you want to go see them, you're going to have to walk,or ride, or maybe take the railroad, and you're going to have to cross Federallines somewhere between here and the capital.""Hm, we're going to have to discuss this," Haakon said."Gentlemen, makeyourselves comfortable.We'll be back shortly." He called Mirabelle and toldher to keep Villa company."Alex," he told the monkey-boy, "try to keep Fierrooccupied.See if you can get any information out of him.We don't have anyonefor him to shoot and I don't think he has any other amusements.Try poker orcraps, if nothing else, only don't cheat except to let him win."He summoned Rand to the bridge and they went to join Soong, who was alreadythere."Villa tells us that Montezuma's wizards can destroy the ship," Haakonsaid."I'm not buying that even here, but I'm not so sure about the gravity inthis ridiculous place.Do we dare to take Eurynome over that planet, for lackof a better word?""It would be inadvisable," Soong said."She is not happy with ordinarygravity.In there, it is not possible to establish even a stabilizing orbit.The one-way pull within that cylindrical field would impose a terrible182THE SWORD, THE JEWEL, AND THE MIRRORstrain.The result might well be irreparable structural damage.""Don't worry about structural damage," Rand said."The Teslas would blow longbefore the ship started to come apart.All our troubles would be over then.""Can't you keep the Teslas damped?" Haakon asked."We're not going to bemaking any interstellar jumps in there.""Tesla damping is a force-field effect," Rand said."The power torus is stillgoing full blast.If our systems are too strained and start to fail, the forcefield weakens and the whole thing goes bang.Take her in there, and that'swhat will happen.""I might've known that we weren't going to do this the easy way," Haakonlamented."Now we're going to have to go down there and walk.I hate walking."Back in the salon, they found Villa and Fierro happily passing the time withdalliance and poker."General Villa," Haakon said, "since it looks as if I'mgoing to have to make my way to the capital at ground level, how close can youget me to Federal lines?""Let's see." Villa took off his wide hat and scratched his head."You could godown in my ship to my headquarters at Chihuahua.There you could take therailroad to Torreon.Federal lines start just south of there.Some of mypeople could get you over the mountains by a smuggler's trail to Leon.Thereyou might catch a train all the way into the capital.Hard to say, though.Thetracks get cut and blown up all the time.And once you get there, you mightneed some fancy talking to get you into the calabozo."183John Mdddox Roberts"Actually," Jemal said, "getting into prison has never been a great problemwith us.""I admire your courage, gentlemen," Villa said."Any time you want to join theNorthern Division, I'll give you commissions.""You take on gringos?" Haakon asked."Sure, I got lots of them: machine-gun specialists, railroaders, engineers,things like that.I ain't prejudiced."Page 75 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"We'll consider your offer, but first things first.I'll have to put myexpedition together.What's our best bet for getting to the capital withouttrouble?""You better not go looking like foreigners," Villa advised
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]