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

was eating snow a moment later. Coming to, he had a clear view of the ridge, of the pastel-hued
command ship standing side by side with a somewhat smaller Trooper. The Trooper had lifted off by
the time Scott scrambled to his feet; it put down in front of him, sinking up to its articulated
knee joints in the snow. Scott stumbled backward, searching for cover, while the Invid calmly
raised its clawed pincer for a downward strike.
A short distance away, Rook sucked in her breath as she witnessed Scott narrowly escape
decapitation. Fortunately, the snow beneath his feet had given way and he had fallen backward into
a shallow ravine at the same moment the Trooper's claw had descended. But now the thing was poised
on the edge of the hollow, preparing to bring its cannons into play. Rook turned her profile to
the ship, the H90 long gun gripped in her extended right hand, and fired two blasts. Given the
near-blizzard conditions, it was too much to ask that her shots find any vulnerable spots-although


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her second burst almost made a hole through the ship's eyelike scanner. The Trooper swung toward
her, almost the impatient turn one would direct toward a mischievous child, and loosed two discs
in response, one of which tore into the earth twenty yards in front of her with enough charge to
blow her off her feet.
By now, five Invid Troopers had put down in the cirque; their colorful commander was still
on the ridge monitoring the scene. The team, meanwhile, had been herded toward the steep glacial
slope at the basin's edge. Scott leapt up out of his hollow after Rook took the heat off him and
waved everyone toward his position. "Everyone over the side!" he yelled into the wind. "Slide,
down the slope back to the tree line!"
"But the mecha!" Rand returned, gesturing back to the basin.
"Forget it! We've gotta make for the woods!"
Scott saw Annie go over the side and ride down the chute on her butt, trailing a scream
that was half fear, half thrill. Lancer and Marlene took to the slope next, then Lunk and Rand.
Scott waved them on, yelling all the while and triggering the handgun for all it was worth against
the Invid who had nearly taken his head off a few moments before. He managed a lucky shot that
blew the thing's leg off, and it settled down into the basin snow and exploded.
Only Scott and Rook remained in the cirque now, along with the four undamaged Troopers
that were moving toward them with evil intent.
"Rook! Are you all right?!" Scott yelled.
She gave him the okay sign and started to make her way toward his position, pivoting once
or twice to get a shot off at her pursuers. The Invid were pouring a storm of discs at them, so
they had to flatten themselves every so often as they attempted to close on the chute. Scott
continued to send out what his blaster could deliver and wasn't surprised to see the enemy split
ranks and head off for a flanking maneuver. Rook was a few yards in front of him when the two of
them went over the side. Scott tried to dig his heels in, then realized why the rest of the team
had disappeared so quickly. Under a thin layer of snow the chute was a solid sheet of glacial ice.

Sera saw the apparent leader of the group whipping down the slope and lifted off to pursue
him. She paused briefly on the edge of the slide to issue instructions to her troops, then engaged
the thrusters that would send her down toward the tree line along the Humans' course.
Although Lancer might have given Sera pause, she had no bonds with the rest of the team.
She came alongside Scott, realizing that he could see her through the command ship's transparent
bubble, and trained her cannons on him. But at the last minute, Scott's heels found a bit of
purchase and he suddenly ended up somersaulting out of harm's way, each of Sera's shots missing