"Keith Laumer - Bolos 5 - Old Guard" - читать интересную книгу автора (Laumer Keith)

passengers started moving.
тАЬAt least IтАЩll only have to be here for a year. I work for Vetrex Electronics, and they need me to do some sales
work here.тАЭ
тАЬLet me carry that for you,тАЭ Toman offered as DahliaтАЩs large suitcase banged against the seats as she walked.
тАЬOh, thank you. I canтАЩt believe that they make us carry our own luggage.тАЭ
Toman took the case, slinging his own duffel bag over his shoulder.
тАЬThe Aragonne Isabelle is not a passenger liner. It is a supply transport. Merchant captains always feel that they
are doing us a favor by allowing us to come with them on their rounds, no matter how much we pay them. Making
our trip comfortable is well beyond their reason.тАЭ
тАЬYou are a father, arenтАЩt you?тАЭ Dahlia asked over her shoulder.
Colonel Ishida felt troubled that the woman had discerned this about him. Had he been condescending or
patronizing, he wondered? He had thought that he was just explaining things well. Perhaps, though, she had just read
it in his face.
At sixty-eight years, Colonel Toman Ishida looked much older than he was. His hair, although mostly
undiminished and somewhat long, had turned prematurely white and gray many years before. His facial skin was
rough and unnaturally wrinkled from the aftermath of two Melconian plasma shell burns, the second happening only
a week after he got out of the hospital from the first. He had hoped that his dominant Asian heritage would protect
him from the ravages of age, but it couldnтАЩt help him against a massed artillery barrage.
Toman had always tried to convince his compatriots that these effects made him look wise and respected. They
always responded that he just looked haggard.
тАЬI have two children, Kaethan and Serina,тАЭ Toman admitted. тАЬIs it that obvious?тАЭ
тАЬIn some things. Your concern for that little girl was certainly an indication, but it was more your manners that
was the giveaway.тАЭ
тАЬMy manners,тАЭ Toman repeated, wanting to understand. тАЬMy aversion to foul language, you mean?тАЭ
тАЬNo. No. It was the manner in which you scolded me in front of the little girl. Your tone of voice and method. I
do, however, believe that the use of foul language, as you call it, is healthy and can make your rhetoric much more
effective.тАЭ Dahlia punctuated her sentence by poking the air with her finger.
тАЬMy old commander would certainly agree with you.тАЭ
тАЬMeaning that you donтАЩt?тАЭ
Colonel Ishida hesitated before continuing this conversation. The last thing that he wanted to do right now was to
enter into a debate about the usefulness of swear words.
тАЬItтАЩs been a long time . . . since I thought a problem could be improved by cursing at it. I now wonder if ever there
was.тАЭ
Ishida was pleasantly surprised as Dahlia didnтАЩt bother replying to his disagreement, seeming more intent on
navigating her wide girth down the aisle. Toman followed, carrying her heavy suitcase as carefully as possible. Even
at his age, Ishida was still almost as strong as he ever was. Toman maintained a strict workout schedule to maintain
his physique. Fifty push-ups and stomach crunches every night before he went to bed, along with a variety of other
simple exercises. His only failing had been giving up his long distance running, for which he had many excuses in
the injuries that his body had endured over the years.
As the colonel exited the door and walked onto the downward ramp, he took a moment to step aside and
appreciate the tangerine sunrise that was climbing above the line of massive hangars to the east. The starportтАЩs huge
expanse of steel and polymer reinforced concrete was wet with a recent rain shower, reflecting the sky in many
puddles. Dark clouds to the south and west looked threatening.
тАЬJust my luck it would be raining today,тАЭ Dahlia lamented as she pondered down the steps.
тАЬThis time of year it rains every day down here,тАЭ Ishida told her.
Whatever weather that was threatening from the north could not be seen, however, since the awesome mass of the
shuttle towered over them like an old-time zeppelin, squat and flat on its bottom and rear. It stretched almost three
hundred meters from fore to aft, and rose over fifty meters above the pavement. The four fusion jets positioned at its
corners wouldnтАЩt be able to budge the giant transport if it werenтАЩt for the powerful counter-grav reactors that reduced
their load. Their passenger compartment was only a small attachment on its underside, near its front. It looked as if it