"Joe Haldeman - We Were Very Happy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haldeman Joe)

тАЬCorporal Potter.тАЭ He had to call her by rank to remind everybody why she hadnтАЩt been promoted along
with the rest of us. Too soft. тАЬHave you тАШtalked it outтАЩ with your people, too?тАЭ

тАЬWeтАЩve discussed it. Sir.тАЭ

The submajor could тАЬglare mildlyтАЭ at people. He glared mildly at Marygay until she continued.

тАЬI donтАЩt think Sergeant Mandella was finding fault with the condiтАФтАЭ

тАЬSergeant Mandella can speak for himself. I want your opinion. Your observations.тАЭ He said it in a way
that indicated he didnтАЩt want them much.

тАЬWell, I donтАЩt think itтАЩs the fault of the conditioning either, sir. We donтАЩt have any trouble living together.
Everybody is just impatient, tired of doing the same thing week after week.тАЭ

тАЬTheyтАЩre anxious for combat, then?тАЭ No sarcasm in his voice.

тАЬThey want to get off the ship, sir; out of the routine.тАЭ

тАЬThey will get off the ship,тАЭ he said, allowing himself a small mechanical smile. тАЬAnd then theyтАЩll be just
as impatient to get back on.тАЭ

It went back and forth like that for a long time. Nobody wanted to put words to the basic fact that our
men and women had had over a year to brood on the upcoming battle; they could only become more
and more apprehensive. And now a Tauran cruiser closing on usтАФweтАЩd have to take our chances with it
before we were within a month of the ground assault.

The prospect of hitting that portal planet and playing soldier was bad enough. But at least you have a
chance, fighting on the ground, to influence your own fate. This bullshit of sitting in a pod, just part of the
target, while the Anniversary played mathematical games with the Tauran shipтАж to be alive one
nanosecond and dead the next, because of an error in somebodyтАЩs thirtieth decimal place, thatтАЩs what
was giving me trouble. But try to tell that to Stott. IтАЩd finally had to admit td-myself that he wasnтАЩt putting
on a grisly little act. He actually couldnтАЩt understand the difference between fear and cowardice. Whether
heтАЩd been purposefully conditioned into that viewpointтАФwhich I doubtedтАФor was just plain crazy, it no
longer mattered.

He was raking Ching over the coals, the same old song and dance. I fingered the fresh Table of
Organization they had given us.

I knew most of the people from the Aleph massacre. The only new ones in my platoon were Demy,
Luthuli and Heyrovsky. In the company (excuse me, the тАЬstrike forceтАЭ) as a whole, we had twenty
replacements for the nineteen people we lost during the Aleph raid. One amputation, four deaders and
fourteen psychotics; casualties of overzealous hate-conditioning.

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I couldnтАЩt get over the тАЬ20 Mar 2007тАЭ at the bottom of the T/O. IтАЩd been in the Army ten years, though