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

trees and Annie and Rook were back in the shelter.
Rand squirreled around a bit until he found a good place for himself in the upper
branches, then cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, "Help! Help me, I'm hurt!" directing his
false alarm along the trail that led to the base of the snowslide. Rook and Annie heard his call
and hunkered down in the shelter, peering out at the clearing through a narrow slot in the wall.
Soon they heard the sound of heavy footfalls, and a Trooper lumbered into the clearing, its blood-
red scanner searching the trees.
Rand drew his H90 and reminded himself to remain calm. He could see that the Trooper was
following the footprints they had purposely left intact on the trail.
"A little farther..." Rand encouraged, whispering to himself through gritted teeth.
The Invid took two more perfectly placed steps, which brought each of its cloven feet down
into the trap's ring mechanisms. Cables cinched and tightened, while others grew taut, straining
at turnbuckles and activating pulleys that had been concealed high in the surrounding branches.
Elsewhere, poles and trees began to spring loose, groaning as they straightened up, released at
last from their bowed bondage. The Trooper's feet were pulled out from under it, and suddenly it
was being hauled into the air, captive and inverted.
Grinning in delight, Rand moved out onto the branch to view the hapless thing's ascent.
But a moment later his smile was collapsing: the snare had been well engineered but underbuilt.
Either that or the lashed trees had seen too many seasons. One after another they were beginning
to splinter under the Trooper's weight; cables stretched and snapped, and pulleys were ripped from
their moorings. As the ship plummeted headfirst toward the snow, Rand armed his weapon and
squeezed off four quick shots, only one of which connected. But all that served to do was alert
the Invid to his presence. Before he could react, the Trooper's cannons came to life and
discharged a blast that connected squarely with the trunk a few feet below his shaky perch. The
tree came apart, and Rand and the upper section were blown backward by the explosion.
He and the Trooper hit the ground at almost the same instant, both of them knocked
senseless by their falls. But the Invid was the first to stir. As the Trooper rose slowly to its
feet, Rook and Annie saw the ship's scanner wink into awareness. Rand was still unconscious,
facedown in the snow, one outstretched arm hooked around the base of the tree he had slammed into
on his way down. Annie began to scream.
Horrified, Rook watched the Invid take three forward steps and position itself over her
fallen teammate. She barreled out of the shelter, yelling for Rand to wake up, raising her blaster
even as the Trooper was raising its claw. She had to put five shots into the alien's back before
it swung around, and when it did, it was clever enough to use its pincer as a shield. Undaunted,
Rook continued to fire until she saw those telltale globes of priming light form at the ship's
cannons; then she spun around and hastily tried to retreat. The Invid dropped her with a disc that
threw her into a headlong crash. She rolled over, struggling to regain her breath as the Trooper
approached, uncertain if she should be thankful that the thing had let her live. Suddenly she
heard Annie's taunting voice close by and watched amazed as her diminutive friend began to pelt
the towering ship with snowballs.
Rook raised herself and resumed fire, hoping to draw the Invid's attention before Annie
succeeded in enraging it. Rand had meanwhile come around and was contributing his own bursts, and
together they somehow managed to send the Trooper to its knees.
"Go, go!" Rand yelled, motioning Rook and Annie past him.
They both knew what he was up to and broke for the trail where Rand had rigged the second
trap. Rook turned around to see if he was following.
"I'm right behind you!" she heard him yell.
And so was the Trooper, looming up over them and the trees, monstrous-looking in the
moonlight, like the nightmare it was.
But it performed just as Rand had expected, stepping boldly along the path, unaware that