"Robert A. Heinlein - Starship troopers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

Robert A. Heinlein


Starship troopers



Robert A. Heinlein. 1959


CHAPTER 1

Come on, you apes! You wanta live forever?
тАв Unknown platoon sergeant, 1918

I always get the shakes before a drop. IтАЩve had the injections, of course,
and hypnotic preparation, and it stands to reason that I canтАЩt really be
afraid. The shipтАЩs psychiatrist has checked my brain waves and asked me
silly questions while I was asleep and he tells me that it isnтАЩt fear, it isnтАЩt
anything important -- itтАЩs just like the trembling of an eager race horse in
the starting gate.
I couldnтАЩt say about that; IтАЩve never been a race horse. But the fact is: IтАЩm
scared silly, every time.
At D-minus-thirty, after we had mustered in the drop room of the Rodger
Young, our platoon leader inspected us. He wasnтАЩt our regular platoon
leader, because Lieutenant Rasczak had bought it on our last drop; he was
really the platoon sergeant, Career ShipтАЩs Sergeant Jelal. Jelly was a
Finno-Turk from Iskander around Proxima -- a swarthy little man who looked
like a clerk, but IтАЩve seen him tackle two berserk privates so big he had to
reach up to grab them, crack their heads together like coconuts, step back
out of the way while they fell.
Off duty he wasnтАЩt bad -- for a sergeant. You could even call him тАЮJellyтАЬ to
his face. Not recruits, of course, but anybody who had made at least one
combat drop.
But right now he was on duty. We had all each inspected our combat
equipment (look, itтАЩs your own neckтАФsee?), the acting platoon sergeant
had gone over us carefully after he mustered us, and now Jelly went over us
again, his face mean, his eyes missing nothing. He stopped by the man in
front of me, pressed the button on his belt that gave readings on his
physicals. тАЮFall out!тАЬ
тАЮBut, Sarge, itтАЩs just a cold. The Surgeon saidтАФтАЮ
Jelly interrupted. тАЮ тАЪBut Sarge!тАЩ тАЮ he snapped. тАЮThe Surgeon ainтАЩt making
no dropтАФand neither are you, with a degree and a half of fever. You think I
got time to chat with you, just before a drop? Fall out!тАЬ
Jenkins left us, looking sad and madтАФand I felt bad, too. Because of the
Lieutenant buying it, last drop, and people moving up, I was assistant
section leader, second section, this drop, and now I was going to have a
hole in my section and no way to fill it. ThatтАЩs not good; it means a man can
run into something sticky, call for help and have nobody to help him.
Jelly didnтАЩt downcheck anybody else. Presently he stepped out in front of us,