[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"We aren't even slowing them down," said Marc, his mouth a straight line as he
observed the scene below in the multiple reconnaissance screens set up before
them.
"They'll be slowed up later," replied Cletus.
He was very busy plotting the movements of the running battle below on the
reconnaissance screen,
even as he issued a steady stream of orders to individual small units of the
Dorsai troops.
Marc fell silent and turned back to examining the situation on the
reconnaissance screens as it was developing under the impetus of Cletus'
orders. Before him the two main elements of the Neulander forces were like
large fat caterpillars crawling down the inner edge of the valley troughs of
the two rivers, converging as the rivers converged toward the single point
that was the town of Two Rivers. Behind, and inland from the rivers, the
Dorsai troops, like thin lines of tiny ants, assailed these two caterpillars
from the rear and the inland sides. Not that all this was visible to the naked
eye below the thick screen of jungle cover. But the instruments and Cletus'
Page 71
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
plotting on the chart revealed it clearly. Under attack the caterpillars
humped their rearward ends closer toward their front, bunching up under the
attacks of the ants, but otherwise were undisturbed in their progress.
Meanwhile, Cletus was extending his pursuing Dorsai troops forward along the
inland side of each enemy force until the farthest extended units were almost
level with the foremost troops of the enemy units they harassed. Occasionally
they dented the Neulander lines they faced. But in case of trouble the
Neulanders merely withdrew over the edge of the steeply sloping bluff and
fought the Dorsai back over, what was in effect, a natural parapet. Not merely
that, but more and more their forward-moving units were dropping below the
edge of the bluff with a skirmish line along its edge to protect their
march so that fully 80 per cent of the enemy force was beyond the reach of the
Dorsai weapons in any case.
Cletus broke off abruptly from his work on the screens and turned to Marc.
"They're less than two miles from the upper edge of the town," he said. "I
want you to take over here and keep those Neulander forces contained all along
their lines. Make them get down below the bluff and stay there, but don't
expose men any more than you have to. Contain them, but hold your troops back
until you get word from me."
"Where're you going, sir?" Marc asked, frowning.
"Down," said Cletus, tersely. He reached for one of the extra jump belts with
which the aircraft was supplied and began strapping it on. "Put half a company
of men on each river over on their jump belts and send them down the opposite
side. They're to fire back across the river into any exposed elements of the
enemy as they go, but they are not to stop to do it. They're to keep traveling
fast until they rendezvous with me down here."
He turned and tapped with his fingernail on the bend in the river below the
town beyond which Wefer and his three Mark V's were at work. "How soon do you
estimate they can meet me down there?" he asked.
"With luck, an hour," answered Marc. "What're you planning to do, sir if you
don't mind my asking?"
"I'm going to try to make it look as though we've got reinforcements into that
town," Cletus said. He turned and called up to the pilot in the front of the
reconnaissance ship. "Cease circling. Take me down to just beyond the bend in
the main river there point H29 and R7 on the grid."
The aircraft wheeled away from its post above the battle and began to circle
down toward the river bend. Cletus moved over to the emergency escape hatch
and put his hand on the eject button. Marc followed him.
"Sir," he said, "if you haven't used a jump belt in a long time "
"I know," Cletus interrupted him cheerfully, "it's a trick to keep your feet
down and your head up, particularly when you're coming in for a landing. Don't
worry " He turned his head to shout to the pilot up front. "That patch of
jungle just inside the bend of the river. Call '
Jump
' for me."
"Yes, sir," the pilot called back. There was a moment's pause and then he
shouted, "
Jump
." "
Jump
,"
echoed Cletus.
He punched the eject button. The emergency door flipped open before him and
the section of
decking beneath his feet flipped him abruptly clear of the aircraft. He found
himself falling toward the tops of the jungle treetops, six hundred feet
below.
He clutched the hand control in the center of the belt at his waist, and the
Page 72
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
twin jets angling out from his shoulder tank flared thunderously, checking him
in midair with a wrench that left him feeling as though his back had been
broken. For a moment, before he could catch his breath, he actually began to
rise. Then he throttled back to a slow fall and began the struggle to keep
himself in vertical position with his feet under him.
He was not so much falling as sliding down at a steep angle into the jungle
below. He made an effort to slow the rate of his fall, but the sensitive,
tricky reactions of the jump belt sent him immediately into a climb again.
Hastily, he returned the throttle to its first, instinctive fall-setting.
He was very near the tops of the taller trees now, and it would be necessary
to pick his way between them so as not to be brained by a branch in passing or
land in one of the deadly, dagger-like thorn bushes. Careful not to twist the
throttle grip in the process, he shifted the control handle slightly this way
and that to determine the safe limits of a change of direction. His first
attempt very nearly sent his feet swinging into the air, but he checked the
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]