"Keith Laumer - Bolos 6 - Cold Steel" - читать интересную книгу автора (Laumer Keith)

He could see the defense turrets along the ridgelines surrounding the valley, all pointed
outwards, intact, and inert. At the far end of the valley hundreds of white-on-black aliens boiled
out of the jungle like ants. The family apartments were to his left, near the shuttle port. For a
moment, he held out some hope. The buildings were still intact, away from the main thrust of the
aliens' charge. Then a plasma cannon began firing from a rooftop to the west, blasting the
buildings one by one. Behind them, an atmospheric shuttle lifted off, slowly, as though it were
heavily loaded. At least somebody was getting away. The shuttle might be able to make it to one
of the other colonies. Maybe his kids were on it. Please.
He hoped they had gotten away, but he couldn't take the chance. He had to find out for
himself. He looked frantically around. A line of company utility vans were parked a dozen yards
down the building. He could take one of them.
The missile streaked across his vision so quickly that he almost didn't see it, and ripped into
the side of the hanger next to the vans. The force of the explosion ripped outwards throwing the
vans around like a child's blocks, while leaving him relatively unscathed. He could see a line of
aliens running up the hill towards him. He ducked back into the office.
"You need to return to my command compartment," said the voice in his head. The Bolo was
back. "My exact status is unknown, but I am unable to actively protect you at this time. You must
return to me."
The Bolo! If he could get the damned thing working, the small arms he'd seen wouldn't touch
it. He could make his way across the colony, rescue his wife and kids. If they were still alive. He
ran back into the hanger, only to see dozens of aliens running through the hangar.
He lifted the rifle and started squeezing off shots, taking an extra instant each time to line up
an alien and make the shot count. It felt more like murder than a battle. He'd fire and one alien
would drop. He'd fire again and another alien would drop. Most of them had swords. He didn't
see any other advanced weapons, but they had to be out there somewhere.
"Quickly," said the Bolo.
The aliens just kept coming as fast as Tyrus could shoot them, wave after wave. He moved
slowly towards the Bolo, careful not to let the aliens sneak behind him. Then, abruptly, his
rhythm was broken. There were no targets. He could hear them moving away.
Something was very wrong.
He stepped out from behind a welding machine onto the hangar floor. Twenty meters away, a
metal cylinder sat on the floor, gleaming in the hangar's still functional emergency lights. He'd
never seen anything like it before, but he had a pretty good guess. Bomb.
He sprinted towards the Bolo. Halfway there he tossed down the rifle. He could see the Bolo
ahead, an emergency hatch opening in its flank, down between two of the giant boogie wheels.
He gave it his last burst of speed and dived for the opening.
The rest happened in slow motion, as the shock wave caught him and hurled him through the
hatch.
He could see the bulkhead coming at him, every weld and bolt of it, in sickening detail, but he
could do nothing to stop it.
There should have been an impact, but there was only nothing.
 Chapter Two
It has been three minutes and sixteen seconds since I was ejected from the cargo bay of the
Lexington. I will see combat sooner than I had ever expected. My commander and I, along with
two other Bolos and their commanders were diverted from our original mission to the Tilla M
outpost by a distress message from the recently established mining colonies on Thule. The
settlements are under attack by a force or forces unknown. Due to the circumstances, we have
been deployed from the Lexington in a non-optimal trajectory, while the ship hurriedly makes
another jump with the rest of our unit to complete its original mission.
It is an exciting time. My first assignment was to a purely defensive post at the Depoe