"Gordon, Steve - Insectoid 02 - Escape from the Insectoids" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gordon Steve)

She leaned against one of the supports on the porch, squinting at him in
the late afternoon light. He stared back at her, realizing he could never
wish for a better sight.
"David, it's happened!" she said, pulling him by the arm and taking him
inside to the interstellar radio. The man listened to the babble of
reports. The Insectoids had destroyed the fleet. The Insectoids were
taking over. The Insectoids were landing on habitable worlds.
The man said nothing. In another time, another place, his first impulse
would be to hop into his fighter and blast off. But he had Amy, and Amy
had him, and they were alone, together, and what else really mattered? He
said as much.
She looked at him oddly. "Aren't you worried that they'll come here?"
"This is an empty world," he said. "And it's a big galaxy. I'm sure
they'll have much better things to do with their time."
"But David, what if they come?" she said, pressing against him.
"Don't worry," the man said, wrapping his arm around her. "Probably
nothing will happen, not for years."
They came almost ten weeks later. The first inkling he had of it was when
he heard the roar of the Insectoid scoutship touching down near the house.
He was hunting in the forest when he saw it, and he started back to the
house on a run, his blaster drawn.
He heard the screams just as he reached the clearing, and saw Amy lifted
up by the neck by one of the Insectoid troopers. There were four of them,
and the other three quickly pointed their weapons at the man.
"Wait!' said the man, approaching slowly. "There's no need for this!"
"Surrender," said one of the Insectoids through its harsh translation
device. Amy struggled to breathe in its grasp
The man lowered but didn't drop his weapon. "We're not a threat to you."
"Drop your weapon," came the modulated voice. "Surrender."
Amy, screaming, continued to struggle, flailing her feet; and one of her
random kicks caught the Insectoid holding by one if its legs. The
Insectoid, perhaps annoyed, but not really hurt, twisted its grip; and
there was a crack, and then Amy's lifeless body was tossed to the ground.
"NO!" the man screamed, and he fired his blaster; and even though three of
the four Insectoids had their weapons aimed at him, and his was lowered,
he managed to kill all four of them with a single shot to each of their
foreheads before any could fire back.
The man ran over to Amy, and felt a long moment for a pulse. Sobbing, he
cradled her head in his hands and cried hysterically.
Later, much later, the man found himself standing over a freshly dug
grave; the tombstone had been carved out of rock by a blaster, and the
flowers on the grave were fresh, though the man had no memory of how
either got there.
He stood at that spot a long time, and as the sun sank low, he muttered,
"They took the only thing that ever meant anything to me...." Then he
paused, for a long time, and said, every so softly, while staring after
the setting sun, "This isn't over...."
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War Admiral Norman North eyed the status reports. They had managed to save
64 active warships and 24 merchant/civilian vessels. The foremost and