"Eliot Fintushel - Uxo, Bomb Dog" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fintushel Eliot)

Long before any of the world wars, soldiers were made to tunnel under enemy positions and fill the earth
below with explosives. тАЬMine warfare,тАЭ they called it. ThatтАЩs where we get the term. You might say that
itтАЩs part of our ancient cultural heritage.

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Did I say, тАЬthe action of its target?тАЭ Truth is, the inaction of the target is the mine layerтАЩs goal, most
often. Grand Central Station was a ghost castle when I first met Queenie and No Fingers and Mumps
and Sonny and the gang. AllтАЩs it takes is one bomblet, one smithereened limb or gutted rib cage, one pop
and flash, to close forty acres, as the Ludds knew well. Who would risk the rest? You assume devices
everywhere. Hell, thatтАЩs what IтАЩm paid to teach тАШem.



USE YOUR PATE.
 CIRCUMNAVIGATE.



It was the Xians mined Grand Central Station, same as Port Authority, with the plastique gadgets the
folks call тАЬBible Thumpers.тАЭ One little Bible Thumper had unmanned a copper at a newsstand near the
42nd Street doors, and Hell broke loose. What with the ruckus on the Tappan Zee and George
Washington Bridges with the Ludds, and the Lincoln Tunnel nightmare that the Rights dreamed up, there
werenтАЩt enough of us de-miners to go around. I was already on the Awareness Squad then, already
gagging about with my Spot, and they sent us down between clown turns to help cordon off Grand
Central. I didnтАЩt expect to find anybody there. Who had spare limbs to gamble?

But kids. Mumps and a couple dozen little street toughs took the place for their playground.

тАЬHey, get down off that chandelier.тАЭ I was cracked to be standing where I was standing just to shout
that. Spot dawdled at the entrance, spooling and unspooling yellow tape (. . . CAUTION CAUTION
CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION . . .) with now and again a halfhearted yip:
тАЬYou crazy? тАШMon back, Blacks. AinтАЩt our job, fтАЩr NaderтАЩs sakes.тАЭ

Mumps and Queenie and some I never met were up in the crystals like a band of spider monkeys japing
and hurling shit. тАЬI said, get down, you bozos, itтАЩs not safe.тАЭ

тАЬNuts to you. WeтАЩre watching Sonny.тАЭ

тАЬThereтАЩs more of you?тАЭ My heart was in my throat. Children and mines. And the holy Xians werenтАЩt
above laying butterfly mines, pretty ones, pretty as a quick death, that a child might grab for a toy. тАЬSuffer
the children to come unto me,тАЭ donтАЩt they say? Yes, come and get it. Anything to prove a point. To pass
a law. To force the release of a тАЬpolitical prisoner.тАЭ

тАЬSonny found a dog,тАЭ they said.

тАЬA dog?тАЭ I was getting a kink in my neck looking up at them, but I didnтАЩt dare move much. Like I say,