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

Hunter, not even Roy Fokker himself, was Max's equal, but Max just went along
like a goodnatured kid who was rather surprised at where fate had brought him,
bashful and loyal and given to blushing. Even if he did follow the fad of dying
his hair-blue, in this case.
"Aw, pipe down," Ben growled at him, but in fact Ben wasn't that unhappy.
Who gets tired of being cheered? Pity them, whoever they are.
Banks of lights came up all around them, until they were standing in a
lighted area brighter than brightest day. Triumphant music soared from the sound
system as curtains swept aside, and the applause and cheering and whistling
began, like waves hitting a shore.
Rick and Lisa, who'd been conversing haltingly and enjoying a kind of
mutual attraction they couldn't seem to resist, looked relieved that the
extravaganza had started. The four escapees, in full-dress uniform, stood in a
line on the stage; from all around the packed Star Bowl the outpouring of joy
and admiration came.
There'd been good war news and bad, and virtually everyone in the
amphitheater had lost friends and relatives; besides, many in the audience were
military. But these were four who'd gone into the very heart of the enemy
stronghold and come back, and returning-coming back home-was something very much
in the minds of the people of Macross City these days.
The master of ceremonies, a man in a loud suit with an oily voice, held
the microphone right up against his capped teeth.
Rick sighed and made up his mind to put up with the show as best he could.
The music was still all trumpets and drums, and the ovation was growing louder
and louder. A tech somewhere turned up the gain on the mike so that the emcee
could be heard.
"And here are the four young champions who have miraculously escaped the
clutches of our enemy: Commander Lisa Hayes, our number one space heroine-"
Lisa was breathing quickly, eyes on the floor, Rick saw; by an iron
application of will, she forced herself not to bolt from the stage; there was
bravery and there was bravery, and facing a crowd took a great deal of hers.
"And Lieutenant Rick Hunter, whose flying exploits are already legendary!"
Rick was used to crowds, was used to taking bows and waving and soaking up
the glory, from his days in his father's air circus. He could easily have played
to the crowd, knew just what it was they wanted and just how to make them like
him even more: the little tricks of eye contact, of perhaps singling out a child
to kiss or an elderly sort to shake hands with or a good-looking woman to hug.
But he did none of that. The mission that had landed him in the Zentraedi
ship and in the heart of the mad Zentraedi empire hadn't been undertaken to win
cheers. Playing to the crowd was a thing that was behind him now, something out
of a different life. Rick Hunter acknowledged the ovation with a bow of his head
and remained more or less at attention.
He looked aside only once, to see what Lisa was doing. She was watching
him.
"And here are their intrepid companions," the emcee went on in a voice so
ebullient that the listeners might have thought he'd been along on the mission.
"Max Sterling and Ben Dixon! To these four, we express our deepest gratitude."
The crowd did. Earth was so close now, and there was a holiday spirit in
the air. A homecoming; a victory; the sight of four humans who'd gone up against
the relentless enemy and come back covered with glory-these things all had the