"Jack McKinney - Robotech 03 - Homecoming" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinney Jack)

had indicated. "You can be sure some kind of sinister force is at work here."
He started off, the other two falling in with him. "There's something
strange at the root of all this, something that makes these creatures so
completely unlike us. But I haven't been able to put my finger on it."
"I noticed it, too!" Rico said excitedly. "Like something's out of
balance-something weird that affects all of them."
They heard laughter and shouting coming their way, and the hiss of small
wheels against the sidewalk. Bron pointed. " Warriors!"
A young male and a young female sped with easy, athletic grace along the
sidewalk on small wheeled contrivances barely big enough to stand on.
Their hair streamed behind them, and they whooped and laughed, tilting and
swaying to steer. From their merry demeanor, the spies could see that the young
Micronians enjoyed their drill and the prospect of combat.
"Gangwaaaay!" called the boy.
"Yahooooo!" sang the girl.
Trying to hide his dismay at their bloodthirsty war cries, Bron dodged,
then faked the other way. The skateboarders, unaware that they were part of an
interspecies skirmish, effortlessly avoided him. Bron mistook their evasive
maneuvers for an attack, reversed field too quickly in the unfamiliar low-heeled
pumps, and ended up on his backside.
Konda and Rico hurried to kneel at either side. "Bron, are you wounded?"
"No, Konda, but I think they suspect something."
The spies looked around apprehensively. Passersby were gazing at them
curiously, sometimes murmuring to one another but not stopping or making
agressive moves.
"Perhaps that was only a probing attack," Rico speculated. His voice
betrayed an unusual lack of self-confidence. If the Micronians were playing such
a sadistic cat-and-mouse game, they must be masters of psychological warfare.
More and more people were noticing them now, laughing outright before
moving along, passing comments among themselves. Their attention seemed to be
focused on Bron and his attire.
"It could be that there's something wrong with our uniforms," Rico hissed.
 "I don't see any difference between our uniforms and theirs, do you?"
Konda demanded as he and Rico each took one of Bron's arms and hauled the bulky
warrior to his feet.
Bron pulled up his white knee socks and rearranged his string of pearls.
"I don't see any difference, either. But just the same, I wish I'd chosen
something a little less breezy down around my legs." He flapped the hem of his
skirt in the air.
People were stopping now, staring at them, laughing and slapping each
other on the arm. The female Micronians seemed inclined to look, avert their
eyes, then look again, blushing and shaking with laughter.
Rico caught a few words here and there-"women's clothes," for example-and
made a brief, horrified comparison study of the garments he saw all around him,
and their wearers.
"That's it! It's a female's uniform you're wearing!"
So, they hadn't been spotted by the Micronians' secret police. Bron had
his eyes closed, almost collapsing back into Konda's arms with the mortification
of it.
Konda shoved him upright. "Come on! Let's get out of here now!"