"Jack McKinney - Robotech 12 - Symphony of Light" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinney Jack)

"Marlene, it's Lancer. Listen, I know what you're going through. It's painful and it frightens
you, but you have to be strong. You have to survive, despite the pain and fear."
"I know," she answered him weakly, her head resting on her arms.
"Just have faith that it'll get better. Soon it'll get better for all of us."
Still vigilant, Rand and Scott watched the scene from across the fire. The young Forager
made a cynical sound. "That sounds a little too rich for my blood."
"Optimistic or not, Rand, he's right," Scott returned.
Rand's eyes flashed as he turned. "I only wish I felt that confident."

Not far from the warmth and light of the fire, something monstrous. was pushing itself up
from beneath the snow-covered surface. It was an unearthly ship of gleaming metals and alloys,
constructed to resemble a life-form long abandoned by the race that had fashioned it. To Human
eyes it suggested a kind of bipedal crab with massive triple-clawed pincer arms and armored legs
ending in cloven feet. There was no specific head, but there were aspects of the ship's design
that suggested one, central to which was a single scanner that glowed red like some devilish mouth
when the craft was inhabited. And flanking that head were two organic-looking cannons, each
capable of delivering packets of plasma fire in the form of annihilation discs.
Originally a race of shapeless, protoplasmic creatures, the creators of the ship, the
Invid, had since evolved to forms more compatible with the beings they were battling for
possession of Earth. This creative transformation of the race had its beginnings on a world as
distant from Earth as this new form was distant from the peaceful existence the Invid had once
known. But all this went back to the time before Zor arrived on Optera; before the Invid Queen-
Mother, the Regis, had been seduced by him; and before Protoculture had been conjured from the
Flower of Life...
The Regis had failed in countless attempts at fashioning herself in Zor's image but had at
last succeeded in doing so with one of her children-the Simulagent Ariel, whom the Humans called
Marlene. Then, upon losing her through a trick of fate, the Queen-Mother had created Corg and
Sera, the warrior prince and princess who were destined to rule while the Regis carried on with
the experiment that would one day free her race from all material constraints.
It was Sera's ship that surfaced next, the heat of its sleek hull turning the glacial ice
around its feet to slush. Purple and trimmed in pink, the craft was more heavily armed than its
companion ship, with a smaller head area sunk between massive shoulders and immensely strong arms.
Momentarily, four additional ships of the more conventional design surfaced around the Humans and
their windblown fire.
Sera heard the Queen-Mother's command emanate through the bio-construct ship that had led
the squad to the high pass.
"All Scouts and Shock Troopers: you may move into your attack positions at this time!
Sera, you will now take command. You are personally responsible for the elimination of these
troublesome insurgents."
Sera signaled her understanding with a nod of her head toward the cockpit's commo screen.
She had dim memories of a time not long ago when she had fought against these Humans in a
different climate, and accompanying this was a dim recollection of failure: of Shock Trooper ships
in her charge blown to pieces, of an inability on her part to perform as she had been instructed
by the Regis...But all this was unclear and mixed with a hundred new thoughts and reactions that
were vying for attention in her virgin mind.


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