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

Nearly two years earlier, a light cruiser in the defense of
August had been shot down during the initial invasion. The pilot had
managed to make a controlled crash, landing on one of the few large
open plazas in the heart of the capital city surrounding Sarney
Sarittenden. The ship had broken open, but the main body of the craft
remained intact, allowing the two thirds of the crew who survived to
escape. The Insectoid ground troopers, after checking out the wreckage
during the ground invasion, now didn't give it a second thought.
But Clifford Croft did. The impact had collapsed the upper levels
of August underneath the crash site, reducing the amount of tunneling
he needed to do. After some excavation, he had an ideal hiding place--
in plain view of two Insectoid security checkpoints, on either end of
the large plaza. The Insectoids would never, ever think to look there,
and Croft had a secure method of ingress and egress--from the
underground.
It was there that he took his allies. He had refurbished two of
the crew quarters, which made a tight squeeze for six, but light and
sound used there couldn't be seen on the plaza outside. If the
Insectoids ever became curious and investigated the wreck again, they'd
have to dig their way to the two compartments, giving Croft plenty of
warning.

Czzz idly sat back in her chair. She was bored, and showed it.
Now that they had conquered the humans, there was no fun, no excitement
anymore! Czzz was a high-ranking Insectoid, a direct deputy to the
governor-general of August, who had grown fat and lazy during the
consolidation period. Perhaps the latest round of executions would add
a bit of excitement to her day.
The prisoners shuffled into the execution chamber, herded by
guards carrying long blades. Their faces were down, their body language
showed they were defeated. How boring.
All except for one human. He moved slowly like the rest,
shuffling along, and then, in the blink of an eye, he had somehow
grabbed the giant four foot foot blade weapon from one of the guards,
skewered it, and turned on the next one in line behind it.
An alarm sounded, and Insectoid guards rushed into the execution
chamber. They attempted to disarm the creature, but it was too quick,
even using the blade which was obviously too long and heavy for it.
Four guards were down before the rest pulled back, drawing their lasers
for the inevitable putdown.
"Wait!" said Czzz, standing up suddenly. Everything stopped; the
guards, the prisoner, even the one with the long blade who moved too
quickly. Czzz looked down at the execution chamber. "You! Human! How do
you move so quickly?" Looking more closely, Czzz noticed that the human
was wounded, its right arm hanging loosely from it. Even more
remarkable that it could fight like that while wounded!
The being looked up at Czzz and said nothing. Czzz wondered if
her translator was functioning properly. "Human! How do you move so
quickly?" Czzz said again.
The being spoke in a flat voice. "I don't; you just move so