"Steve Perry - Matador 4 - The Omega Cage" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Steven)

electromechanics, had been human built and installed. The Zonn had built the
wall, along with the rest of the small city around which the prison had been
constructed. They had been dead or gone half a million years, so the Confed
extee experts saidтАФbut sometimes it felt as if the mysterious aliens might be

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peering at you from behind the nearest wall. Half a million years old, and those
walls and other structures showed as little signs of wear as a set of new
orthoskins. Stark wished he had their engineers instead of the ones the Confed
fielded.

He reached the walkway. The distraction should be starting aboutтАж now.

As if on cue, a rumble began in the yard. A fight, most likely; he couldn't see it
from here, but that's what they usually did. Not very original, but effective.

Stark stroked his com. "Be sure and get good views of the distractors," he said.
That was part of it too. He hadn't asked for this stinking job and he would leave
in a nanosecond were it up to him, but it wasn't. And as long as he was trapped
here, he would do it by the tape.

"Of course," came the reply. That would be Lepto watching the yard. Scum who
had killed half a dozen men with their bare hands would cross the yard to avoid
running into Lepto when his black moods were on him. In a combat unit, Stark
would have had Lepto bent to a psych hospital stat. But here, the giant Tatsuan
had found his niche. He was brutal and dangerous, but Stark needed that kind of
man. The prisoners of the Omega Cage were the worst criminals in the galaxy.

The ear implant clicked on with incoming. "It's a go, Warden. They're making
the rush."

Stark hurried to get in position. "Nobody does anything until they clear the wall."

There was no answer to that command. Anybody who warned the escapees in
any way would suffer as much as they did, and they all knew it. The rules were

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different here. Loyalty wasn't the keyтАФfear was. Stark didn't much like it, but he
hadn't invented the system. He just had to survive it.

The warden reached the observation tower. He keyed the holoproj on and waved
it up to eight-X magnification and enhancement. The six escapees darted for
what they thought was a hidden booster plate at the base of the wall, five men
and one woman piling onto the makeshift lifter. Probably all praying it will