"Simon R. Green - Deathstalker - 1 - Deathstalker" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

"Are you crazy? We'll all be killed!"

He didn't answer her. His gaze was fixed on his computer displays, and he was
laughing. Hazel looked wildly round for help, only to find she and Markee were
the only living crew left on the bridge. The rest were dead at their stations. Hazel
staggered away from the bridge, stumbling through the smoke and wreckage. If
she was quick, she could still get to an escape pod before the two ships hit. And if
she was really lucky, the escape pod would still be working.

The corridor lurched back and forth as Hazel forced herself into a run. Adrenaline
was putting strength back into her legs, but she knew that wouldn't last long. Solid
steel creaked and groaned around her as the ship began to break up. Markee had to
be directing most of the Shard's remaining power into the force shields, but some
of the punishment was getting through anyway. The lights were going out, one by
one. Hazel tried to contact Hannah through her comm implant, but the AI was still
talking gibberish, mumbling to itself in a querulous voice.

Hazel rounded a corner and then stumbled to a halt. One of the bulkheads had
been blown inward, blocking the corridor completely. Spikes of jagged metal

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Green, Simon R. - Deathstalker 01 - Deathstalker (v1.0) (html)


thrust out in all directions, some of it still glowing cherry-red from the heat of the
recent explosion. Hazel took the opportunity to get her breath back, and studied
the situation as calmly as she could. Panicking or screaming with rage might feel
good, but it wouldn't get her anywhere. The first real pain from her burns was
beginning to gnaw at her, but she forced the awareness down to a level she could
deal with. She grabbed hold of a few spikes that were only uncomfortably warm
and tried to shift the steel mass, but it didn't budge an inch. She bit her lower lip,
scowling. This was the only way to the escape pods. She had to get through.

Her hand fell to the gun on her hip. Using an energy weapon in a confined space
was always dangerous, but nowhere near as dangerous as being trapped here when
the two ships hit. She drew her disrupter, set it to maximum dispersal and fired
before she could think better of it. The raging energy beam punched a hole clean
through the steel barrier, leaving a tunnel that stretched away into the metal for as
far as she could see. It wasn't much of a tunnel, three feet in diameter at most, but
it would have to do. She just hoped it would have an opening at the other end.

The sides of the hole glowed red with a sullen heat, and Hazel knew she couldn't
afford to touch them. But she was going to have to crawl through the tunnel on all
fours, and that meant contact with her hands and knees. Her uniform would
protect her knees, for a while anyway, but she'd have to do something to protect
her bare hands. She put away her gun, drew her backup knife from her boot and
cut away one of her sleeves. She cut the cloth in two again, put away her knife,
and wrapped the cloth around her hands. She looked again at the red-hot sides of
the tunnel before her and winced. This was going to be really unpleasant. She