West of Honor by Jerry Pournelle Page A

thought about it. If there were anyone down there, and that theoretical someone had a radar receiver, the chopper would give itself away with the first pulse. Maybe that would be better. "Yes."

    "Rojj," Louis said. He was silent a moment. "Hal, I get nothing. If there's anybody down there, he's dug in good and expecting us."

    "Let's go in," I said.

    And now, I thought, I'm committed.

Six

    "Over the side!" Ardwain shouted. "Get those tethers planted! First squad take perimeter guard! Move, damn you!"

    The men scrambled off the platform. Some of them had tether stakes, big aluminum corkscrews, which they planted in the ground. Others lashed the platform to the stakes. The first squad, two maniples, fanned out around the area with their rifles ready.

    There wasn't much wind, but that big gas bag had a lot of surface area, and I was worried about it. I got off and moved away to look at it. It didn't seem to be too much strain on the tether stakes. The hillside was quiet and dark. We'd set down on top of some low bushes with stiff branches. The leaves felt greasy when they were crushed. I listened, then turned my surveillance amplifier to high gain. Still nothing, not even a bird. Nothing but my own troops moving about. I switched to general command frequency. "Freeze," I said.

    The noise stopped. There was silence except for the low "whump!" of the chopper blades, and a fainter sound from Number Two out there somewhere.

    "Carry on," I said.

    Ardwain came up to me. "Nobody here, sir. Area secure."

    "Thank you." I thumbed my command set onto the chopper's frequency. "You can cut yourself loose, and bring in Number Two."

    "Aye, aye, sir," Louis said.

    We began pulling gear off the platform. After a few moments, Number Two chopper came in. We couldn't see the helicopter at all, only the huge gas bag with its platform dangling below it. The Skyhook settled onto the chaparral and men bailed out with tether stakes. Centurion Lieberman watched until he was sure the platform was secure, then ran over to me.

    "All's well?" I asked him.

    "Yes, sir." His tone made it obvious he'd wanted to say "of course."

    "Get 'em saddled up," I said. "We're moving out."

    "Aye, aye, sir. I still think Ardwain would be all right here, sir."

    "No. I'll want an experienced man in case something happens. If we don't send for the heavy equipment, or if something happens to me, call Falkenberg for instructions."

    "Aye, aye, sir."' He still didn't like it. He wanted to come with us. For that matter, I wanted him along, but I had to leave a crew with the Skyhooks and choppers. If the wind came up so tethers wouldn't hold, those things had to get airborne fast, and the rest of us would be without packs and supplies. There were all kinds of contingencies, and I wanted a reliable man I could trust to deal with them.

    "We're ready, sir," Ardwain said.

    "Right. Let's move out." I switched channels. "Here we go, Louis."

    "I'll be ready," Bonneyman said.

    "Thanks. Out." I moved up toward the head of the column. Ardwain had already gone up. "Let's get rolling," I said.

    "Sir. Question, sir," Ardwain said.

    "Yeah?"

    "Men would rather take their packs, sir. Don't like to leave their gear behind."

    "Sergeant, we've got eight kilometers to cover in less than three hours. No way."

    "Yes, sir. Could we take our cloaks? Gets cold without 'em—"

    "Sergeant Ardwain, we're leaving Centurion Lieberman and four maniples of troops here. Just what's going to happen to your gear? Get them marching."

    "Sir. All right, you bastards, move out."

    I could hear grumbling as they started along the ridge. Crazy, I thought. They want to carry packs in this.

    The brush was thick, and we weren't making any progress at all. Then the scouts found a dry stream bed, and we moved into that. It was filled with boulders the size of a desk, and we hopped from one to another, moving slightly downhill. It was pitch-black, the boulders no more than shapes I could barely see.