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

Lisa closed the hand into a tight fist. In those seconds Minmei had made
her feel like a friend, as if she was all-important to Minmei. Lisa had to admit
that that would be a very hard thing for anybody to resist-especially a man.


CHAPTER FIVE
As veteran Zentraedi warriors, you will, of course, even in your micronized
state, find it necessary to hide your natural superiority. Be sure to conceal
your immunity to the degenerate behavioral impulses of the humans.
Breetai, from his instructions to the spies Rico, Bron, and Konda

Minmei had gone on to Rick, taking another bouquet and presenting it to him.
"And congratulations on your safe return, you handsome devil!"
 She handed him the flowers with a wink and a laugh. He stood for a second
looking as though he'd just touched a live wire. Then he blurted out, "Well! Um,
thank you!"
Minmei put one slender hand to his right cheek and held him steady while
she kissed his left. Fire and ice coursed through him; he remembered the moment,
months before, when, trapped together in a distant compartment of the SDF-1,
they'd shared a deeper, more lasting kiss.
The crowd had suddenly gone ugly. Minmei was everybody's favorite, and
there was a strange current of jealousy at seeing her single out a nobody
lieutenant, hero that he might be, for special treatment. She was the dream
girl, the idol, the fantasy figure; an undertone of hostility ran through the
crowd.
She turned to the audience without losing her merry persona. "Now, now!"
she chided, shaking a finger at them in mock chastisement. Amazingly, the sounds
of resentment died away as quickly as that, and people were applauding her
again. To make her point, Minmei kissed Max's cheek, and Ben's, as she gave them
their roses. "Congratulations...congratulations..."
The crowd loved it; the crowd loved her.
Down among the people near the stage were the three spies. At first they'd
merely drifted along with the people assembling in the amphitheater, to make
sure they'd eluded any Micronian pursuit. Then it had become apparent that a
major gathering was taking place, and they'd set out to infiltrate it. That had
proved amazingly easy.
Bron had gotten rid of his pleated skirt and knee socks and white silk
blouse and even the tasteful string of pearls. He was wearing a blue turtleneck
and dark slacks, although it had taken a little doing to get new clothes.
On a quiet side street, they had stumbled across a metal bin stenciled
CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE NEEDY. With some effort, the portly warrior had hauled
himself into it and found Micronian male garments that fit.
The three spies concluded that keeping contributions for the needy in the
difficult-to-enter metal housing served as a kind of minimum qualification test
in the savage Micronian culture; any needy individual who wasn't fairly spry
would be out of luck. It was a stern way to run things, the trio agreed, but no
doubt very efficient.
Now, though, they looked around themselves worriedly. These Micronians
were obsessed with the creature Minmei. At first the spies had thought that
they'd stumbled onto a simple propaganda rally and that they'd get insights on