"Jack McKinney - Robotech 04 - Battlehymn" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinney Jack)

way to the bridge, or maybe it was just that Fokker's death was too painful to
discuss-the first one that hit home-but in any case no one brought it up.
Claudia and Rick were each separately cocooned in sorrow no one saw fit to
disturb. Kim and Sammie talked about how sorry they felt for Claudia, knowing
how much she missed Fokker, knowing that underneath that brave front she was
torn up. But neither woman ever approached her with those feelings. Even Lisa
seemed at a loss. That afternoon she had followed Claudia to the mess hall,
hesitant at the door, as if afraid to intrude on her friend's grief...Did it
occur to her that Claudia and Rick-the lieutenant at the observation deck rail
and Claudia seated not fifteen feet away-might have been able to help each
other through it, or was Lisa also one of the speechless walking wounded,
wounds in her own heart reopened, wounds that had been on the mend until
Fokker's death?
It was Rick she approached that afternoon, the City of Angels spread out
below the observation deck like some Robotech circuit board. Rick looked drawn
and pale, recuperating but still weak from his own brush with death from
wounds he had suffered indirectly at her own hand. But there was no mention of
Roy, although it was plain enough to read in his dark eyes the devastation he
felt. And the more she listened to him, the deeper she looked into those eyes,
the more fearful she became; it was as though all light had left him, as
though his words rose from a hollow center, somber and distanced. She wanted
to reach out and rescue him from the edge. There was music coming through the
PA, a song that had once welcomed both of them back from a shared trip to that
edge.
"That's Minmei, isn't it, Rick? Have you two been seeing each other?"
"Sure," he answered flatly. "I watch her on the wall screen, and she
sees me in her dreams."
No help in this direction; Lisa apologized.
 Rick turned from her and leaned out over the rail.
"She's been spending a lot of time with her cousin Kyle. You know,
family comes first."
"Well I'm glad you're all right, Rick. I was worried about you."
That at least brought him around, but there was no change in tone.
"Yeah, I'm feeling great, Lisa. Just great."
She wanted to start from scratch: Listen, Rick, I'm sorry about Roy, if
I can be any help to you-
"So I hear we've got a new barrier system," he was saying. "And I guess
we need it more than ever, right, I mean, since the Council is refusing to
allow the civilians to leave-"
"Rick-"
"-and it isn't likely that the Zentraedi are going to call off their
attacks."
She let him get it all out and let silence act as a buffer.
"The Council will rescind their order, Rick. The captain says he'll keep
the ship right there until they do."
Rick sneered. "Good. And the sooner it happens, the better. I know we're
all anxious to get back into battle."
Rick's eyes burned into hers until she could no longer stand it and
looked away. Was he blaming her somehow for Roy's death? Had she suddenly been
reduced to some malevolent symbol in his eyes? First Lynn-Kyle and his remarks