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

That stopped him for a moment. "Then how do you know anything about what is happening
outside?"
"I seem to be equipped with a suite of sensitive seismic detectors. I can detect any surface
movements in the area. The patrols I have detected are too heavy, their stride wrong, for them to
be human. I have detected no movement, either by foot or vehicle, that I can identify as
potentially human. In fact, I have detected no vehicles at all."
That didn't make sense either. An attacking force should have lots of vehicles. All those alien
soldiers he'd seen certainly hadn't walked here through a thousand kilometers of jungle.
Feeling a little better, he pulled himself up to a sitting position. His arm hurt, his head
throbbed, there were little dark flecks in his vision when he moved, but he thought he would live.
"You don't seem concerned that we're buried. Can you get us out?"
"Affirmative. Despite the so-called 'butchery' of my systems, I am still a Bolo of the Line.
When you are ready, I can begin extracting us from the rubble."
He sighed. Despite Dirk's claim, he wouldn't be satisfied until they made a visual inspection
of the colony. Failing that, the shuttle had been headed north. There was another colony off that
way if he remembered correctly. He might find his family there, and this Bolo was his best
chance of making the trip. "Start digging."
"I would recommend that you strap yourself into my command crash couch first. It is also
equipped with a field autodoc that can treat your injuries. Can you climb up to my control room?"
He looked at the ladder. "I think so. Which way?"
"Up the ladder, right at the horizontal passage, around my main turret bearing, through the
fore circuitry room, right on until the end of the passage." He started climbing the ladder, careful
not to hit his bump on the low, metal ceiling. "I should warn you," said Dirk, "that as soon as I
bring my systems up to full power, there is a good possibility we will be detected."
"We'll deal with it when we have to. See what you can do about getting us some functioning
weapons, and I'll have a quick look at your circuitry room as I pass through."
"I will begin bringing power systems on-line."
"Not while I'm touching an exposed buss bar, please." He reached the central passage and
started crawling forward. "Get ready to dig us out. I want to see some sunlight."
Around him the massive mining machine came to life.
 Chapter Three
The heat smothered them like a blanket, making the already thick atmosphere blur any long
range visuals. The shimmering of the air, combined with the black and white markings of the
aliens' fur, worked like a natural camouflage, letting them blend with the shadows at the edge of
the jungle. Acting Militia Commander Jerry Donning let go of the binocs with disgust, letting
them drop back into place on his vest. He could do better without them. He knew the aliens were
out there. They had attacked twice already since the fall of the Odinberg Colony. There was no
doubt they were coming again.
He stood on the top of a slight rise just to the south of the northern colony, staring into the
scattered jungle below them. He felt lost, outmanned, outgunned and underqualified. It had only
been a month since the first shipments of pulse rifles, body armor, and light weaponry had come
in, along with orders from company headquarters, "able-bodied adults, especially those with
military experience, are urged to form a militia for emergency defense."
"Urged" was just the company's way of saying "must," and so processing foreman Jerry
Donning, who had once done a tour with the New Brazil Marines suddenly found himself prime
officer material, in fact, found himself in charge of the colony's defenses. Never mind that in his
three terrestrial years in the service he'd never gotten within a parsec of combat, never fired a shot
outside a range or a training simulation. But there he was, in charge.
He'd figured it would be easy. Round up some volunteers, go shoot some daybats at the
jungle's edge, lob off some practice mortar rounds at rock formations. Hell, it would be fun. It