"R. Garcia Y Robertson - Oxygen Rising" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robertson R Garcia Y)

honor.

Brad asked suspiciously, "What's a SuperCat?"

"You'll see. His name's Leo and he's really neat, but don't put your hand in his mouth." Derek stepped
back into the rain, wading out into low wet vegetation, he and Brad both trying not to show their fear. No
one shot at them.

"What's that?" Brad pointed at the smashed Bug-mobile.
"Sculptorian Symbiots," Derek took a drag on his oxygen, "the most advanced xenos known to
manтАФwe call them Bugs, using them for anything dull or dangerous." Calling out an all-clear, he led the
gaggle of moms and children out of the lock and away from the shattered glass tower, over to where the
mechanized battalion was dug in at the city's perimeter.

("Greenies have brought up pressurized Bug-mobiles for them," Leo told him. "This all there is?")

"Hope not." Now came the hard part. Everything so far had been scary, but up-beat, Derek risking his
life doing goodтАФand getting paid on top of it. Now bad things would happen that he could not stop.
"Hear that, Brad?" He gave the boy some oxygen, then took a snort himself. "We get to ride on a Bug."

Big double-ended sixteen-legged Bug-mobiles were hunkered hulldown at the edge of town. Sculptorian
Symbiots came in all shapes and sizes, from slim four-armed centauri-ods used for semi-intelligent tasks
like cleaning toxic spills, to these big double-bodied, sixteen-limbed types not much brighter than a
smart-car. Bugs were true xenos, hive creatures, working for food and water, and the chance to
propagate themselves on new planetsтАФthe highest known form of non-human life in this part of the
galaxy. But Bugs might think that humans were the dumb ones. Survey ships in the Far Beyond had
discovered whole Bug planets, whose original inhabitants had also found the Bugs to be obedient
toolsтАФbut now existed only as DNA samples.

Greenie males wearing loincloths and battle armor casually emerged from the Bug-mobiles to collect the
prisoners. Women shrank back and kids started to whimper. Brad fought back tears. Not that Greenies
were particularly frighteningтАФnot compared to monstrosities like Bugs and SuperCats. Photo sapiens
were pretty much human, but with photosynthetic algae in their skin and somatic cells, giving them a
bright green color that glistened in the rain. Otherwise they were small, graceful and lightly built, with
handsome faces half-hidden by rebreathersтАФwhich showed that they needed as much air as humans. But
Derek was handing these women and kids over to enemies who were driving them from Harmonia.
Greenies had killed their fathers, husbands, and brothers, and, in some cases, their sisters and mothers as
well, making specious any lectures about how we were all the same under the skin. Which Derek knew
was not even true.

Brad refused to be handed over, clinging to Derek until Leo came up. Clapping Derek on the back, Leo
gave Brad a close-up look at saber-tooth canines, saying, "Good job! It would have cost me to bring
them out the hard way. Want steady work?"

Quieting at once, Brad sucked oxygen. Somehow the sight of this tawny monster with a toothy smile
calmed him, dispelling any fear of mere Greenies. Derek shook his head. "No thanks, the job I got is bad
enough."

"Too bad." Leo shook his head, taking a big snort of oxygen. "I like to get my hands on humans.
Greenies are just not the same. They are smart enough, and follow orders happily, they just don't have