Archiwum
- Index
- Alan Burt Akers [Dray Prescot 07] Arena of Antares (pdf)
- Alan Burt Akers [Dray Prescot 21] A Fortune for Kregen (pdf)
- James Alan Gardner [League Of Peoples 02] Commitment Hour
- James Alan Gardner [League Of Peoples 07] Radiant
- Bernard MacLaverty Secrets and Other Stories (pdf)
- Foster, Alan Dean Icerigger 1 Icerigger
- Alan Dean Foster The Damned 03 The Spoils of War (v1.0) (Undead)
- Alan Dean Foster The End of the Matter
- Foster, Alan Dean The Black Hole
- Homer Iliada
- zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- aeie.pev.pl
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were roaming around the ranch buildings and surrounding ground.
Two big transport helicopters were settled like monster beetles on the road
ahead. Armed men with many--patched uniforms and funny hats milled about in
confu-sion.
Chester was the last out of the station wagon as he cut the engine before the
ranch house. All three scientists were already heading at their respective top
speeds for the barn. Their worries, and Chester's, turned out to be
groundless.
Even from here he could see the alien device resting in its former position
high up in the hayloft; despite the noise, he could hear it humming its atonal
hymn. Gem lights winked on and off within a globe of moon.
His first thought satisfied, he turned his attention to the house, headed
toward it.
A smartly clad ranger blocked his path with a slim M-18. "Sorry, sir, no one
permitted past this point without authorization."
Chester fumbled for identification, trying to locate the proper cards and
peer past the bulk of the soldier as well.
"I'm Major Josiah Chester," he explained, "Air Force Intelligence. I'm the
one who placed the emergency call that brought you all out here."
The soldier listened impassively, noncommittally. It was the printed
identification that pleased him. After that careful study; he stepped aside.
"Go on in, Major."
The first thing he saw in the big living room was a very alive Beth hattuck
and a long row of bodies. They were of indeterminate nationality and size,
alike only their clothing. Some lay frozen in odd positions. They looked like
a family of ravens worked on by a not-too-steady-handed taxidermist.
"Mornin', Major," Beth Shattuck greeted him brightly. "Seems we've been
invaded twice tonight." She indicated the row of near corpses. "First by
these. Then by your friends. They are your friends, aren't they?" He nodded
ruefully. "Then they come swooping down with the most god-awful yelling and
hollering you can imag-ine. Like to scared the chickens plumb to death.
"Cotton and Gin woke up woozy right when it hap-pened. They're both in
David's room hiding under his bed, and nothing can get them out. I got tired
of shoutin' at those two bitches, so I came out here. What's goin' on? Who are
these ugly catatonics-" She gestured again at the row of bodies. "-and why the
invasion? You folks tryin' to make a comedy picture or somethin'?"
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"There's no comedy to it, Mrs. Shattuck," Chester told her softly as he moved
from one softly breathing, motionless form to the next. He stopped at the one
he was hunting for, turned it over. Frightened, angry eyes glared back at him
helplessly.
"Excuse me, sir?"
Chester looked up from the limp form into the face of an earnest captain of
special forces. He repeated his identification, verbal and written, for the
officer's benefit.
The captain stood back while Chester went through the sergeant's pockets,
acutely aware of those eyes following him. Other than that, the big man didn't
twitch a muscle, though Chester could feel as well as hear the man breath-ing.
There was nothing in the man's pockets that proved particularly instructive,
unless it was the exceedingly large amount of cash. He fondled a bent, smudged
card on which numbers were listed for girlfriends, bowling alleys, and
restaurants. Odd, but all the numbers were out of state.
It might have been his imagination, but it seemed to Chester that when he
handled that particular item the ser-geant's eyes widened slightly. He handed
the card to the captain, along with the cashwnd the rest of the items.
"While Intelligence is running checks on these people and their identities,
have them research the numbers on that card, delicately. They might turn up
some interesting people at the other end of each of them."
"Yes, sir," acknowledged the captain, saluting re-spectfully.
"Now, what happened here?" Chester asked him.
"Nothing, sir. We flew out as fast as we could, putting on our boots on board
ship. Someone got somebody big awfully excited."
"That was me," Chester told him.
"We'd been standing by for weeks," the captain went on, "told to be ready for
an unspecified emergency. When we got the call, we were ordered to prepare to
land shooting. But when we came in, no one challenged us.
"We found these-" He indicated the bodies, a couple of which were beginning
to twitch. "-scattered between that barn, all along the road up to a big
semi-I don't know if you can see it in the darkness, sir."
"We passed it coming in," Chester said.
"There's a fancy sling and winch arrangement inside the rear trailer of it,
sir, along with a pile of legitimate cargo-cover, we presume. We were informed
on the way about the satellite."
Chester did not enlighten the captain further. "It seems pretty obvious they
came here to steal it, sir. We've spent most of our time waiting for someone
to give us new orders." He looked hopefully at Chester.
"Load up your men, go home, and forget about this morning," the major
instructed him. "You've done your job." He gestured with a thumb at the now
stirring, and moaning bodies nearby. "Make sure these are turned over to base
intelligence for 'debriefing.' " His stress on the last word was peculiar.
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"If they can be debriefed. What happened to them?"
"Just a minute, sir." The captain turned, shouted toa man bent over one of
the forms. He rose, walked over, to join them. Chester noted the captain's
bars and med-ical insignia on his field uniform.
"Never saw anything quite like it," was his response to Chester's questions.
"Full paralysis of every voluntary muscle. Those necessary to maintain the
life functions are operating normally."
"Any idea what caused it?"
"None." The doctor shook his head slowly. "I can't imagine what happened."
"I can," said a soft voice. All three officers turned, looked out the front
door.
Shattuck, obviously bored and annoyed with the whole business, was standing
and watching the milling soldiers. His son sat curled nearby on a swing bench.
There was a kitten in his lap.
Chester had noticed the abundance of half-wild cats swarming about the ranch
on his first arrival. Now, though, it occurred to him to wonder how the cats
and farm fowl coexisted. He mentioned it to the rancher.
"That's what I'm talking about," Shattuck said, pleased. "It's just like the
coyote."
"What coyote?" Chester asked.
"Normally the dogs keep them well clear of the hen-house," the rancher
explained. "But when it gets as cold as it's been lately, we let them sleep on
the porch. I wouldn't put a good dog out in the snow any more than I would a
good man.
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