"Karin Lowachee - Warchild" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lowachee Karin)

So you opened the hatch. It took a lot of tugging, and the
noise got worse. You crept down the corridor, twitching at
every sound. Voices around the corner screamed words Daddy
had told you never to repeat. The sound of pulse shots bounced
toward you. Someone fell into view. Derek. Just this past
goldshift youтАЩd played with Derek in the gym and there he was
on the deck, looking at you, but he wasnтАЩt looking at you. He
was bleeding from his head. He didnтАЩt move. The screaming
kept on but it wasnтАЩt the klaxon, it was DerekтАЩs mother. Even
distorted you recognized her Martian accent.
Then she went quiet and a suited form walked around the
corner. You didnтАЩt see the face. It wore a helmet with no
markings on it, not like Mukudori helmets, and thin armor.
You stared.
You stared. It came toward you like a creature from the
vids, black and sleek, scarred on its reflective face, carrying a
big gun. Rifle. It took its time. It said, тАЬKid,тАЭ in a hollow voice
that didnтАЩt seem to come from anywhere near where the
mouth should have been. It walked toward you like you were
no threat, walked over Derek where he lay still and staring. It
tracked blood across the deck and that wouldтАЩve made Cap
very, very mad.
You went deaf.
You raised your gun and shot the creature directly in the
chest. Somehow your fingers had found the release and the
trigger and the small gun went pop pop in your hand, spitting
out two bright red pulses that burned the creature through its
armor and cast it to the deck.
Two more came around the corner, faster.
Your hand spasmed again, raining red on the creatures so
they scattered. Then you turned and ran because suddenly
space became noisy again. Now you werenтАЩt deaf. Footsteps
chased you. The creatures chased you. You knew all the
towersteps and you took them, holding the rails, hooking your
ankles and sliding down the way youтАЩd done a hundred times,
playing.
But somewhere along the line youтАЩd dropped the gun. Going
down the stairs.
Stupid, stupid Jos. They shouted above you on crew deck,
below you from engineering deck. Now you were on the
command deck where Cap should have been. You pounded
away from corridor mains and into corners you knew from
years of exploring. You remembered the best hiding place in
the galaxy. You squeezed into that maintenance shaft and
shrank back in the shadows, hoping the ship would not lose
gravity, violently, and send the loosened grate across the
deckplates. You smelled smoke and tried not to breathe.
Mukudori was dying. The steady low thrum of her
atmospheric controls whined to a halt. You knew the word
тАЬdie.тАЭ YouтАЩd seen it now. Somewhere Simone shouted тАЬNo!тАЭ