"Leo Frankowski & Dave Grossman - The War With Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Frankowski Leo)

world thinks that we have been writing to our friends, our parents, and to all our other
relatives on a very regular basis. Our tanks saw to it that nobody was worried about us.
Everybody back home thinks that we are wonderful war heroes. My kid brother went and
saw the movie they made about us more than twenty times!"
"Those dirty, filthy bastards. So now what? When we go home, do we put on phony
officer's uniforms, or something?"
"That's exactly what the people in public relations want us to do, Mickolai. They want
a presence around to let the people know that they are being well protected, but the real
Powers That Be want our actual command structures hidden, and in their Combat Control
Computers, in case of emergencies. Having you and me out there pretending to be in
charge is the compromise they came up with."
"Damn them! They want us to be targets for enemy snipers, local lunatics, and
suicidal maniacs, that's what they really want! Well, I won't do it!"
"We will be well protected. And have you thought it out, love? Being famous might
be a very nice thing. We'd get the very best service in the restaurants, in the hotels, and in
the shops."
 "We've already been getting the best service, for eight years, subjectively, in Dream
World, and it's no big thing. What we'd also get is mobbed by every newscaster, social
climber, and autograph hunter on thirty planets. Really famous people all need
bodyguards. Have you ever thought about why?"
"If it gets to be tiresome or dangerous, we can always crawl back into our tanks.
Nobody can bother us in here, without our wanting them to."
"We won't have our tanks. We'll be on leave, remember?" I said.
"Oh, yes we will. You are thinking of what we were told in Dream World, when we
thought we were retired. You'd know the rules when you are still on active duty, if you'd
bothered to read the regulations. I checked it out. As members of the Kashubian
Expeditionary Forces, we are required to have our weapons at hand at all times, in case of
emergencies. For us, that means we keep our tanks."
"You know, that regulation could actually come in handy."
"You are oh, so right, my handsome hero. Especially when it comes to building us
our house. I've already taken steps to insure that Agnieshka and Eva will be properly
equipped for the job."
"Properly equipped? What do you mean?"
"You'll find out. But for now, roll over, and I'll rub your back."
***
Getting out of a tank after more than four years wasn't the shock that I'd expected it to
be.
Agnieshka said, "Good-bye, for now!"
The coffin drained and slid out the back with me in it. I sat up, took off my helmet,
and removed the sanitary fittings. I was in a private garage, of sorts, but a clean, well-
appointed one. A polite male attendant took my helmet, helped me to clean up, and
showed me to the room where military clothing of my size was kept.
On the way, I stopped and looked at myself, naked, in a mirror. Agnieshka hadn't
done a bad job on me at all. Oh, I was bald, and the complete lack of sunlight had made
my skin a sickly white, but I looked fit and well muscled, and I moved with a certain
grace that hadn't been there before. All told, I was a far cry from the starving immigrant
who had been inducted so many years ago.
All the uniforms I was shown had a general's insignia on them, and I decided not to
fight it, for now anyway. There were five rows of campaign ribbons on the class A
uniforms, and almost two dozen medals hanging on the dress outfits. I had no idea what