"Sakura," Hartford said, this being the prompt-word to which the blabrigar was trained to reply.
"Fifty men, sir; fifty men, sir; on the way, sir; on the way, sir," the bird chanted into Hartford's ear. He let the bird rest on his shoulder; it would have to fly back to the scout1 who'd sent it soon, to tell him to join the rest of them at the ambush-point.
The sun was low in the sky. H-hour was near. The signals began coming closer-together. "Saw one Stinker off your left flank, Miller2.... Left flank-guard reporting, sir. That Gook took off due east. Blabrigar on his shoulder.... Lieutenant3 Felix here. Anything on the right flank?... Nothing, sir.... Keep moving, Lieutenant." This last voice was the colonel's.
Hartford frowned. If Nasty Nef had come out in person, the game would have to be played fast and dirty.
Hartford set his bitcher low. "Abunai yo!" he said to his guerrillas, sprawled4 out all along the ledge5 like figurines on a mantlepiece. "Be cautious. Shoot your dart6 and get behind something. From now on, be silent. The enemy is near."
Takeko spoke7: "You mean, Lee-chan, that our brothers draw near." The other Kansans smiled. Some saluted8, a gesture they'd observed among the Axenites they'd been spying upon for the past few days.
The first of the scouts9 came galloping10 up the gullet of the canyon11. Without a sound he signaled his watching comrades, invisible above him. He made a circle with his hand, pointing up. That meant the Regiment's veeto-platform was scouting12 ahead of the approaching Axenites. The first man slapped his giraffu to hasten it up the pass, past the Daibutsu. Two other scouts, the foxes urging on the hounds, came shouting into the canyon. Neither of them was Ito Jiro. As his name signified, Jiro was the youngest son of Ito-san, the knife-maker. He was the darling of the family. Where was he? Hartford worried.
The radio, no longer masked by the rocks, was filled with information. Hartford heard the veeto-pilot reporting: "They're headed up the gulch13 past the big idol14, sir," he said. "There's a village up there. That's where they're probably headed. What do you want me to do, sir?" The platform hovered15 over the canyon, unwilling16 to work its way into the jagged, bamboo-and-pine-prickly fissure17.
"Keep in touch, Sky-Eye," Nef ordered. "We're coming right up."
"Felix here, sir," the lieutenant reported. "We've got one of the Gooks prisoner. He's just a kid. Doesn't seem to know a thing."
"Hold him till we get someone who talks Stinker," Nef said.
They got Jiro, Hartford thought. Damn.
The first of the troopers, an officer in the blue safety-suit, spearheaded the column. "Nothing in sight yet," Felix's voice reported. The officer signaled "Come on" with the sweep of his arm, and the first squad18 of Axenites, dispersed19 as skirmishers, formed themselves into a file to enter the canyon. The veeto-platform above kept the foliage21 pressed down with its jet of air, stirring dust that both improved concealment22 and threatened to trigger a sneeze from one of the ambushers.
Hartford peered cautiously over the edge of the shelf. He'd set his forces far enough back in the canyon that the entire Axenite column would be encased. "Sir, this is Felix," the radio said. "Do you agree, sir, that I should place one squad in reserve till the rest get through the gully?"
"Peel off one squad and stay with it, Felix," Nef said.
Felix's voice again: "Sir, it was our Lieutenant Hartford that the Gooks got. I'd like to go in early."
"Very well, Felix. Miller, hold your squad where it is. Disperse20 them well, and wait my order before bringing them into the ditch. Confirm."
"Done and done, sir," Miller snapped.
The first two dozen troopers were in the canyon now, half the Axenite force. Colonel Nef had shown the good sense to don an ordinary blue safety-suit; his scarlet23 command-suit would have made him a splendid target. Another squad entered, their Dardick-rifles held at the ready. This would have to be quick, Hartford thought, or he'd lose his entire corps24 at their first volley. He raised his hand, a signal visible only to Takeko. She cupped her hands around her mouth and whistled the call of the nightingale, "Ho-o-kekyo ... kekyo!"
Before the echoed notes had died, the darts25 had found their targets.
The radio was a clutter26 of undisciplined Damn's, cries of "I've been hit!" One trooper, quicker than the rest, caught sight of a Kansan. He raised his rifle and purred out a stream of Dardick-pellets. Yoritomo, apprentice27 to the paper-maker, tumbled over the lip of the ledge, his blowpipe falling with him like a jack-straw. There was a babble28 on the radio. Nef overrode29 all other circuits to command: "At ease! Rake the ledges30 with sustained fire."
The canyon was blasted with a confetti of metal and spalled rock as the troopers hosed the shelves with bullets.
The angle made aiming impossible. But by luck and the intensity31 of the barrage32 another man, the carpenter's son, had toppled to his death.
"Sky-Eye! Get your butt33 down here!" Nef bellowed34. "Decontamination Team! Bring the vehicle to the mouth of the canyon. We've got men septic." He tongued-on his bitcher and bellowed at the troopers. "On the double, through the ditch."
"Yuke!" Hartford shouted to the men far up the wall, in the niche35 that held the Daibutsu. "Go!"
The sappers at the back of the giant bronze statue bent36 to their levers. The tons of metal scooted slowly forward, hit the fat-smeared edge of the shelf. As quietly as a man rocking forward in prayer, the Daibutsu dropped head-down into the ravine. It struck the bottom with the sound of a great gong, and rocked, unshattered, plugging the throat of the canyon, standing37 as a dam. The hands of the Enlightened One were held in the positions of Protection and of Giving; His face bore still a quiet smile. About the head of the image a fountain of water burst, squeezed up from the stream below. "Namu Amida Butsu!" Takeko said, cuddled against Hartford, staring down.
"Keep down," he said. He lifted his suit-radio and flicked38 on the transmission-switch. "This is Lee Hartford, late of the First Regiment," he announced. "The safety-suits of most of you have been breached39. There is not room for more than three of you in the Decontamination Vehicle. You are not septic. I repeat: you have not been contaminated. Kansas is as safe for you as the Barracks, or Titan, or the M'Bwene planets, or in the cells at Luna. You do not need your safety-suits on Kansas."
"Find that man and gun the traitor40 down," Nef's voice demanded from the speaker on his suit.
"I am coming out unarmed," Hartford radioed.
"Fire the moment you see him," Nef said. One of the officers had his Dardick-pistol drawn41, his eyes traversing the canyon walls.
"No, sir!" Felix's voice snapped from his bitcher. "You can't shoot the man till he's had a chance to speak."
"Go to the rear at once, Private Felix," Nef bellowed.
Felix pointed42 his handgun toward Nef. "No, sir," he replied. "Hartford was my C.O., and an honest man. I'll hear him before I see him killed. Or by my life, sir, I'll kill you after him."
"This is treason," Nef said.
"drop your pistol, sir, or I'll have to try to shoot it from your hand. Excuse me, sir," Felix said.
Nef's gun dropped.
"You all hear me?" Felix bitched. "Hear me out there, Miller?" There was a chorus of "Roger!" Felix went on: "I'm going to unclamp my helmet, troopers. I'm going to take off my safety-suit. That's how much I trust Lee Hartford, troopers. The man who tries to stop Hartford better begin with me." Felix opened his helmet, removed it, and placed it on the rocks beside him. He went up to drink from the fountain that sparkled about the head of the Daibutsu, cupping his hands. "It's good water, men," he said. "Come on down, Hartford," he shouted through the clear night air.
Lee Hartford twisted over the edge of the shelf, held himself by his finger-tips, and dropped. He stood before his old comrades in arms dressed as a country Kansan. His head bore only a stubble of hair, and a scarlet blabrigar came down to settle familiarly on his shoulder. "I caused your suits to be breached for good reason," he said, speaking into the bitcher he'd recovered from his safety-suit. "If any of you has a sore backside because of the darts my men sent at you, please accept my apologies." Two more Axenites removed their helmets, and stood grinning uncertainly at Hartford. "I have lived on Kansas for two weeks, living like a native. I've breathed Kansan air, eaten their wonderful food and even kissed one of their girls." There was a murmur43 of laughter. "I'm as healthy as ever I was inside the Barracks," Hartford said. "And I'm a good deal happier."
There was louder laughter among the Axenites, and more helmets opened. Hartford turned to look behind him. Takeko was hanging by her finger-tips off the shelf, trying to work up the courage to drop. He went over to stand below her. "Fall to me, darling," he said. "Fall into my arms."
"I hear, shujin, and obey," Takeko squeaked44, and dropped.
When Hartford released Takeko and turned to face the troopers, every helmet but Nef's was opened. Half a dozen of the men had already stripped to their Class B's. They had their faces tilted45 into the wind that was sweeping46 up the gullet of the canyon, smelling for the first time in their lives the scents47 of open nature, the spice of green life in the air. They were seeing the Kansas sky; a mosaic48 of stars, unfiltered by helmets. They were breathing air not humid with their own perspiration49. Holding Takeko's hand in his, Hartford walked up to Felix. "You saved the day, old buddy," he said.
There was the cough of a tapped-off Dardick-round.
Felix fell. Colonel Nef, his pistol held at the hip50, tilted it toward Hartford. He looked startled for a moment, then dropped the pistol. In his wrist were three blowgun-darts. Clustered across his chest were half a dozen more. Hartford waved at the Kansans on the ledge. "Arigato!" he shouted, and told them to come down.
Two men had died in the engagement: Yoritomo the paper-maker and Sannosuke the carpenter's son. Felix's thigh-bone had been broken by Nef's shot; and Colonel Nef's right wrist would require attention. A medical officer had been sent for from the Barracks to set Felix's leg. The dead men were carried on litters up to the shelves and around the fallen Daibutsu to the village. Hartford splinted his friend's broken leg. "What now, Hartford?" Felix asked.
"I suggest that you all become guests in Yamamura."
"Done and done," Felix said.
Takeko came up to lay a bunch of flowers on his chest. "They smell sweet," she said. "Courage such as yours smells sweet in the nostrils51 of heaven."
"Thank you, Ma'am," Felix said. He turned his head to follow the girl as she took a second handful of flowers to place it beside the fountain that jetted about the head-standing Daibutsu. "I can see where this will be a popular planet to do duty on, Lieutenant," he said. "What you discovered here will pretty well wipe out the Brotherhood52."
"You're right," Hartford said. "The Brotherhood is doomed53."
They watched as Takeko knelt before the inverted54 image. "Namu Amida Butsu," she said. "All men are the same in the sight of Amida, the Lord of Boundless55 Light."
"Maybe I'm wrong, Lieutenant," Felix said. "Maybe the Brotherhood just got started."
The End
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收听单词发音
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1
scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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5
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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8
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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9
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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10
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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11
canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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12
scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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gulch
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| n.深谷，峡谷 | |
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idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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15
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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fissure
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| n.裂缝；裂伤 | |
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18
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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24
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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25
darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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26
clutter
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| n.零乱，杂乱；vt.弄乱，把…弄得杂乱 | |
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apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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28
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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29
overrode
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| 越控( override的过去式 )； （以权力）否决； 优先于； 比…更重要 | |
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30
ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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31
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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barrage
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| n.火力网，弹幕 | |
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33
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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34
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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35
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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36
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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37
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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38
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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39
breached
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| 攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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41
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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42
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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43
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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44
squeaked
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| v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
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45
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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46
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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47
scents
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| n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉 | |
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48
mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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49
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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50
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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51
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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52
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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53
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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54
inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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