Выбрать книгу по жанру
Фантастика и фэнтези
- Боевая фантастика
- Героическая фантастика
- Городское фэнтези
- Готический роман
- Детективная фантастика
- Ироническая фантастика
- Ироническое фэнтези
- Историческое фэнтези
- Киберпанк
- Космическая фантастика
- Космоопера
- ЛитРПГ
- Мистика
- Научная фантастика
- Ненаучная фантастика
- Попаданцы
- Постапокалипсис
- Сказочная фантастика
- Социально-философская фантастика
- Стимпанк
- Технофэнтези
- Ужасы и мистика
- Фантастика: прочее
- Фэнтези
- Эпическая фантастика
- Юмористическая фантастика
- Юмористическое фэнтези
- Альтернативная история
Детективы и триллеры
- Боевики
- Дамский детективный роман
- Иронические детективы
- Исторические детективы
- Классические детективы
- Криминальные детективы
- Крутой детектив
- Маньяки
- Медицинский триллер
- Политические детективы
- Полицейские детективы
- Прочие Детективы
- Триллеры
- Шпионские детективы
Проза
- Афоризмы
- Военная проза
- Историческая проза
- Классическая проза
- Контркультура
- Магический реализм
- Новелла
- Повесть
- Проза прочее
- Рассказ
- Роман
- Русская классическая проза
- Семейный роман/Семейная сага
- Сентиментальная проза
- Советская классическая проза
- Современная проза
- Эпистолярная проза
- Эссе, очерк, этюд, набросок
- Феерия
Любовные романы
- Исторические любовные романы
- Короткие любовные романы
- Любовно-фантастические романы
- Остросюжетные любовные романы
- Порно
- Прочие любовные романы
- Слеш
- Современные любовные романы
- Эротика
- Фемслеш
Приключения
- Вестерны
- Исторические приключения
- Морские приключения
- Приключения про индейцев
- Природа и животные
- Прочие приключения
- Путешествия и география
Детские
- Детская образовательная литература
- Детская проза
- Детская фантастика
- Детские остросюжетные
- Детские приключения
- Детские стихи
- Детский фольклор
- Книга-игра
- Прочая детская литература
- Сказки
Поэзия и драматургия
- Басни
- Верлибры
- Визуальная поэзия
- В стихах
- Драматургия
- Лирика
- Палиндромы
- Песенная поэзия
- Поэзия
- Экспериментальная поэзия
- Эпическая поэзия
Старинная литература
- Античная литература
- Древневосточная литература
- Древнерусская литература
- Европейская старинная литература
- Мифы. Легенды. Эпос
- Прочая старинная литература
Научно-образовательная
- Альтернативная медицина
- Астрономия и космос
- Биология
- Биофизика
- Биохимия
- Ботаника
- Ветеринария
- Военная история
- Геология и география
- Государство и право
- Детская психология
- Зоология
- Иностранные языки
- История
- Культурология
- Литературоведение
- Математика
- Медицина
- Обществознание
- Органическая химия
- Педагогика
- Политика
- Прочая научная литература
- Психология
- Психотерапия и консультирование
- Религиоведение
- Рефераты
- Секс и семейная психология
- Технические науки
- Учебники
- Физика
- Физическая химия
- Философия
- Химия
- Шпаргалки
- Экология
- Юриспруденция
- Языкознание
- Аналитическая химия
Компьютеры и интернет
- Базы данных
- Интернет
- Компьютерное «железо»
- ОС и сети
- Программирование
- Программное обеспечение
- Прочая компьютерная литература
Справочная литература
Документальная литература
- Биографии и мемуары
- Военная документалистика
- Искусство и Дизайн
- Критика
- Научпоп
- Прочая документальная литература
- Публицистика
Религия и духовность
- Астрология
- Индуизм
- Православие
- Протестантизм
- Прочая религиозная литература
- Религия
- Самосовершенствование
- Христианство
- Эзотерика
- Язычество
- Хиромантия
Юмор
Дом и семья
- Домашние животные
- Здоровье и красота
- Кулинария
- Прочее домоводство
- Развлечения
- Сад и огород
- Сделай сам
- Спорт
- Хобби и ремесла
- Эротика и секс
Деловая литература
- Банковское дело
- Внешнеэкономическая деятельность
- Деловая литература
- Делопроизводство
- Корпоративная культура
- Личные финансы
- Малый бизнес
- Маркетинг, PR, реклама
- О бизнесе популярно
- Поиск работы, карьера
- Торговля
- Управление, подбор персонала
- Ценные бумаги, инвестиции
- Экономика
Жанр не определен
Техника
Прочее
Драматургия
Фольклор
Военное дело
The Seventh Scroll - Smith Wilbur - Страница 107
wire mesh for the construction of the abions and human tabour for the
filling of the mesh 9 nets with stone and aggregate."
"Wire mesh?" Royan demanded. "Where do you hope to find that in the
Abbay valley?"
Sapper began to reply, but Nicholas forestalled him."
will come to that in a moment. Let Sapper finish his lecture. Don't
spoil his fun. Tell Royan about the stone from the quarry. She will
enjoy that."
"Although I have designed the dam as a temporary Structure, we have to
make certain that it is capable of holding back the river long enough to
enable the members of our team to enter the underwater tunnel in the
downstream pool Safely-'
"We call it Taita's pool,'Nicholas told him, and Sapper nodded.
"We have to make sure that the dam does not burst while people are in
there. You can imagine the consequences, should that happen."
He was silent for a moment while he let them dwell upon the possibility.
Royan shuddered slightly and hugged her own arms.
"Not very pleasant," Nicholas agreed. "So you plan to use the blocks?"
he prompted Sapper.
"That's right. I have studied the photographs taken in the quarry. I
have picked out over a hundred and fifty granite blocks lying there
completed or almost completed, and I calculate that if we use these in
combination with the steel mesh gabions and the timber coffer walls,
this would give us a firm foundation for the main dam wall."
"Those blocks must weigh many tons each," Royan pointed out. "How will
you move them?" Then, as Sapper opened his mouth to explain, she changed
her mind. "No!
don't tell me. If you say it's possible, I will take your word for it."
"It's possible," Sapper assured her.
"Taita did it," Nicholas said. "We will be doing it all his way. That
should please you. After all, he is a relative of yours."
"You know, you are right. In a strange sort of way, it does give me
pleasure." She smiled at him. I think it's a good omen. When does all
this happen?".
"It's happening already," Nicholas told her. "Sapper and I have already
ordered all the stores and equipment that we will be taking with us.
Even the mesh for the gabions has been precut to size by a small
engineering firm near here. Thanks to the recession, they had machines
standing idle."
"I have been down there at their workshop every day, supervising the
cutting and packing," Sapper butted in.
"Half the shipment is already on its way. The rest of it will follow
before the weekend."
Sapper is leaving this afternoon to take charge and get it all loaded.
You and I have some last-minute arrangements to see to, and then we will
follow him at the end of the week. You must remember I was not expecting
you back from Cairo so soon,'Nicholas said. "If I had known, I could
have arranged for us all to fly down to Valletta together."
"Valletta?" Royan looked mystified. "As in Malta? I thought we were
going to Ethiopia."
"Malta is where Jannie Badenhorst has his base."
"Jannie who?"
"Badenhorst. Africair."
"Now you have really lost me."
"Africair is an air transport company that owns one old ex-RAF Hercules,
flown by Jannie and his son Fred. They use Malta as their base. It's a
stable and pragmatic little no country African politics, no corruption -
and yet it is the door to most of the destinations in the Middle East
and in the northern half of Africa where Jannie and Fred do most of
their work. His main employment is smuggling booze into the Islamic
countries, where of course it is prohibited. He's the Al Capone of the
Mediterranean.
Bootlegging is big business in that part of the world, but he does take
on other work. Duraid and I flew into Libya from there with Jannie on
our little jaunt to the Tibesti Massif.
Jannie will be taking us down to the Abbay."
"Nicky, I don't want to be a killjoy, but you and I are now undesirable
immigrants to Ethiopia. Had you over looked that little fact? How do you
propose to get back in there?"
"Through the back door," Nicholas grinned, "and my old pal Mek Nimmur is
the gatekeeper."
"You have been in contact with Mek?"
"With Tessay. It seems that she is now his go'between.
I imagine it's very convenient for Mek to have her on board. She has all
the right connections, and she can slip in and out of Khartoum or Addis
or places where it might be awkward or even dangerous for him to be
seen."
"Well, well!" Royan looked impressed. "You have been busy."
"Not all of us can afford a holiday in Cairo whenever the fancy takes
us," he told her tartly.
"One more little question." She ignored the jibe, although she realized
that despite his easy smile her absence must have irked him. "Does Mek
know about Taita's game?"
"Not in detail." Nicholas shook his head. "But he has some suspicions,
and anyway I know I can rely on him." He hesitated, and then went on.
"Tessay was very cagey when I spoke to her on the phone, but it seems
that there has been some sort of attack on St. Frumentius monastery. Jah
Hora. and thirty or forty of his monks were massacred, and most of the
sacred relics from the church were stolen."
"Oh, dear God, no!" Royan looked stricken. "Who would do a thing like
that?"
"The same people who murdered Duraid, and made three attempts to wipe
you out."
"Pegasus."
"Von Schiller," he agreed.
"Then we are directly responsible," Royan whispered.
"We led them to the monastery. The Polaroids they captured from us when
they raided our camp would have shown them the stele and the tomb of
Tanus. Von Schiller wouldn't have to be a clairvoyant to guess where we
had taken them. Now there is more blood on our hands."
"Hell, Royan, how can you take responsibility for von Schiller's
madness? I am not going to let you punish yourself for that." Nicholas's
tone was sharp and angry.
"We started this whole thing."
"I don't agree with that, but I admit that von, Schiller is the one who
must have cleaned out the maqdas of St. Frumentius and that the stele
and the coffin are now almost certainly part of his collection."
"Oh, Nicky, I feel so guilty. I never realized what a danger we were to
those simple devout Christians."
"Do you want to call off the whole thing?" he asked cruelly.
She thought about it seriously for a while, then shook her head.
"No. Perhaps when we go back we will be able to compensate the monks for
their losses with what we find in the bottom of Taita's pool."
"I hope so," he agreed fervently. "I do hope so."
The giant Hercules -Mkl four-engined turbo, prop aircraft was painted a
dusty nondescript brown, and the identification lettering on the
fuselage was faded and indistinct. There was no Afticair legend
displayed anywhere on the machine, and it had a tired and scruffy
appearance that spoke eloquently of the fact that it was almost forty
years old and had flown well over half a million hours even before it
- Предыдущая
- 107/177
- Следующая