Aldiss, Brian W - Equator by Aldiss Brian W

Author:Aldiss, Brian W
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

VII

Mopping his face, Tyne thought hard. It was obvious enough that the charming Miss Ittai, far from having saved his life again, as he had at first believed to be the case, had tricked him into getting into the helicopter. She had wanted, for reasons of her own, to get him away from his own people. His ,brain was still muzzy from the effect of Murray’s knee in his stomach; savagely, he shook his head. Fuzzy he might be, but on several points he was clear enough. And one of them was: this little beauty was heading in the direction of the Roskian Sumatra Base as fast as she could go.

A little, round cloud formed ahead, and another beyond that. They hit turbulence and lumped heavily up and down. Someone below had an anti-flight gun trained on them.

Tyne looked down, but could see only roads and plantations. All round the outskirts of Padang, the U.N.C. Force had pockets of fortification and defence. Stobart must have worked, quickly in getting on to them. In a minute, Tyne thought, interceptors would be up after them. He did not relish the idea.

The same thought had occurred to the girl. Grimly, she was knocking every last spark of power out of the machine. Another crumpling explosion outside sent them rocking sideways.

Locking the controls on a climbing course, she turned to Tyne. Suddenly, the gun was in her hand again.

‘I hate to do this, but you must realise I will do anything to succeed, anything,’ she said. “This mission must be carried through at all costs. Beside it, none of us matter at all. If you so much as move suspiciously I will kill you. I will have to kill you.’

’You know, you interest me, Benda,’ Tyne said. ‘Why couldn’t you nave fallen in with the scheme for duplicating the microfilm I suggested back in the temple?’

She smiled dismissively. ‘Do you really think your people would let you, me or the film go, once they had us? You are really an amateur, Tyne.’

‘I’ve heard that said before, thanks. What do you want me to do?’

The craft bucked furiously as he asked. Hanging on, keeping the gun fixed on him, Benda said, ‘It is getting rough. We are probably being pursued so you must bail out. There is one of our mini-rotor kits behind you, which is the equivalent of your parachutes. Put it on, jump! That will be a distraction to the U.N.C. Forces. Possibly when they see you are going down, they will cease to chase me. Also, this little flier will travel faster without you.’

‘You have it all worked out,’ Tyne said admiringly. ‘And it can’t be far to the Rosk base now.

Anything else you want before I go?’

Her gun waved a little.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Unscrew your false hand and give it to me.’

A wave of something like triumph ran over Tyne. So at last he had guessed, and guessed rightly. Benda had ‘rescued’ him for the same reason that Murray had deliberately left him a trail to follow: because Tyne was absolutely essential to their plan.

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