"Gordon, Steve - Insectoid 03 - Death to the Insectoids!" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gordon Steve)

running, for the only cover available: the cage. Running behind the
cage, he stood along the edge of it, watching them approach. Because
the bulk of the cage was between him and the beasts, the beasts
couldn't charge him directly. Two flew above the cage and one of them
came from the side.
But it was an uncoordinated attack, and the Silencer realized his
advantage. These beasts had only a rudimentary intelligence, so their
ability to cooperate with each other was haphazard at best.
The one attacking him from the side reached him first, and he
ducked back behind the cage, so that it passed him by; it would take a
precious moment for the bee to turn and accelerate back towards him.
During that moment the Silencer ducked down and plunged his sword up,
plunging into the guts of the bee who had just cleared the top of the
cage. He yanked the blade out and spun to the side just as the bee came
crashing down.
The third bee was just coming over the top just as the first bee
was getting a lock on his location again, so the Silencer ran around
and into the cage. The first bee tried to sting him through the bars,
lunging at him, but the Silencer stood just out of range. The beast
lunged again, and just as it pulled back the Silencer lunged, stabbing
it quickly with his powerblade.
He heard a buzzing behind him and was lunging as he turned; the
third beast was attacking him through the open end of the cage. The
giant stinger lunged out at him, but a fraction of a second before it
touched his body, his blade penetrated the beast first, causing it to
jump back as if it had touched a hot poker. It fell to the ground in a
heap just inside the entrance to the cage.
Without looking, the Silencer lunged behind him, through the bars
of the cage, at the wounded bee that was pressing against the bars. His
sword hit it straight between the eyes, and it dropped to the ground.
When the Silencer stepped out of the cage, there was raucous
applause, with mandibles clicking and buzzing sounds everywhere. Even
the Insectoids couldn't help but admire his skill.
The Silencer slowly walked to the entrance of the arena, still
gripping his powerblade. Guards nervously grasped their lasers at the
entrance, motioning for him to drop the weapon.
The Silencer seemed to pause, considering. Then he looked up,
noticing the squad of guards above him, out of reach, who also had
lasers trained on him, and then he deactivated the blade, dropping it
to the sand.

Deep inside the palace, in the heart of occupied Sarney
Sarittenden, an interior wall illuminated, and a hooded figure stepped
through. The illuminated wall seemed to show another room behind it,
one much like the room the figure had stepped into. But this image
faded almost immediately after the figure stepped through. The figure
touched something on another wall, and the wall slid open, revealing a
corridor in the palace. The figure glanced cautiously down the
corridor; and, seeing it was empty, stepped forward.
The wall closed behind him, leaving no sign of entry or exit.