"2 - The Flood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Halo ebooks txt)

constructed in a more logical fashion, which meant that their control rooms
were buried deep within heavily armored hulls, making them impervious to
anything less than a mortal blow.
The differences did not end there. Rather than surround themselves with all
manner of control interfaces, plus the lesser beings required to staff them,
the Elites preferred to command from the center of an ascetically barren
platform held in place by a latticework of opposing gravity beams.
However, none of these things were at the forefront of Ship Master Orna
ТFulsameeТs mind as he stood at the center of his destroyerТs control room
and stared at the data projections which appeared to float in front of him.
One showed the ring world, Halo. Near that, a tiny arrow tracked the
interloperТs course. The second projection displayed a schematic
titledHUMAN ATTACK SHIP, TYPE C -11. A third scrolled a constant
flow of targeting data and sensor readouts.
He fought a moment of revulsion. That these filthy primates somehow
merited an actual nameЧlet alone names for their inferior constructsЧ
galled him to his core. It was perverse. Names implied legitimacy, and the
vermin deserved only extermination.
The humans had УnamesФ for his own kindЧУElitesФЧas well as the lesser
races of the Covenant: УJackals,Ф УGrunts,Ф УHunters.Ф The appalling
temerity of the filthy creatures, that they would darename his people with
their harsh, barbaric tongue, was beyond the pale.
He paused, and regained his composure. ТFulsamee clicked his lower
mandiblesЧthe equivalent of a shrugЧand mentally recited one of the True
Sayings.Such is the ProphetsТ decree, he thought. One didnТt question such
things, even when one was a Ship Master. The Prophets had assigned names
to the enemy craft, and he would honor their decrees. Any less was a
disgraceful dereliction of duty.
Like all of his kind, the Covenant officer appeared to be larger than he
actually was, due to the armor that he wore. It gave him an angular,
somewhat hunched appearance which, when combined with a heavy,
pugnacious jaw, caused him to look like what he was: a very dangerous
warrior. His voice was calm and well modulated as he assessed the situation.
УThey must have followed one of our ships. The culprit will be found and
put to death at once, Exalted.Ф
The being who floated next to ТFulsamee bobbed slightly as a gust of air
nudged his heavily swathed body. He wore a tall, ornate headpiece made of
metal and set with amber panels. The Prophet had a serpentine neck, a
triangular skull, and two bright green eyes which glittered with malevolent
intelligence. He wore a red overrobe, a gold underrobe, and somewhere,
hidden beneath all the fabric, an antigrav belt which served to keep his body
suspended one full unit off the deck. Though only a Minor Prophet, he still
outranked ТFulsamee, as his bearing made clear.
True Sayings aside, the Ship Master couldnТt help but be reminded of the
tiny, squealing rodents he had hunted in his childhood. He immediately
banished the memory of blood on his claws and returned his attention to the
Prophet, and his tiresome assistant.
The assistant, a lower-rank Elite named Bako ТIkaporamee, stepped forward
to speak on the ProphetТs behalf. He had an annoying tendency to use the
royal Уwe,Ф a habit that angered ТFulsamee.