"William C. Dietz - Halo 1 - The Flood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dietz William)

The intercom buzzed again, and Sam swung himself out of the bunk. He jabbed at the comm control.
тАЬMarcus here,тАЭ he growled.

тАЬIтАЩm sorry to wake you, Sam, but I need you down in Cryo Two.тАЭ Tech Chief Shephard sounded
exhausted. тАЬItтАЩs important.тАЭ

тАЬCryo Two?тАЭ Sam repeated, puzzled. тАЬWhatтАЩs the emergency, Thom? IтАЩm not a cryo specialist.тАЭ

тАЬI canтАЩt give you specifics, Sam. The Captain wants it kept off the comm,тАЭ Shephard replied, his voice
almost a whisper. тАЬJust in case we have eavesdroppers.тАЭ

Sam winced at the tone in his superiorтАЩs voice. HeтАЩd known Thom Shephard since the Academy and had
never heard the man sound so grim.

тАЬLook,тАЭ Shephard said, тАЬI need someone I can depend on. Like it or not, thatтАЩs you, pal. YouтАЩve
cross-checked on cryo systems.тАЭ

Sam sighed. тАЬMonths ago . . . but yes.тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩm sending a feed to your terminal, Sam,тАЭ Shephard continued. тАЬItтАЩll answer some of your questions
anyway. Dump it to a portable тАЩpad, grab your gear and get down here.тАЭ

тАЬRoger,тАЭ Sam said. He stood, shrugged into his uniform tunic, and stepped over to his terminal. He
activated the computer and waited for the upload from Shephard.

As he waited, his eyes locked on a small two-dee photograph taped to the edge of the screen. Sam
brushed his fingers against the photo. The pretty young woman frozen in the picture smiled back at him.

The terminal chimed as the feed from Shephard appeared in SamтАЩs message queue. тАЬReceiving the feed,
Chief,тАЭ he called out to the intercom pickup.

He opened the file. A frown creased his tired features as a new message scrolled across his screen.

>FILE ENCRYPTED/EYES ONLY/MARCUS, SAMUEL N./SN:18827318209-M.
>DECRYPTION KEY: [PERSONALIZED: тАЬELLENтАЩS ANNIVERSARYтАЭ]

He glanced back at the picture of his wife. He hadnтАЩt seen Ellen in almost three yearsтАФsince his last
shore leave on Earth, in fact. He didnтАЩt know anyone on active duty whoтАЩd been able to see their loved
ones for years. The war simply didnтАЩt allow for it.

SamтАЩs frown deepened. UNSC personnel generally avoided talking about the people back home. The
war had been going badly for so long that morale was rock-bottom. Thinking about the home front only
made things worse. The fact that Thom had personalized the security encoding was unusual enough;
reminding Sam of his wife in the process was completely out of character for Chief Shephard. Someone
was being security-conscious to the point of paranoia.

He punched in a series of numbersтАФthe date of his weddingтАФand enabled the decryption suite. In
seconds, the screen filled with schematics and tech readouts. His practiced eye scanned the fileтАФand
adrenaline suddenly spiked through his fatigue like a bolt of lightning.