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

that, well, you knowтАж"

"Killer instinct?" Derek's gaze stayed fixed on the bunker door, while Brad stared wide-eyed at Leo.
Men in brown militia uniforms emerged from the bunker to be disarmed by Leo's troopers, who turned
them over to the Greenies.

"Exactly," Leo declared, pleased to have hit on just the right term. "Why is that?"

Derek continued to study the door, sucking oxygen as the last seconds of truce ticked away, willing her
to come out. "Greenies are too cultured," he told the SuperCat. "We humans are the wild stock."

"Is that so?" Leo did not sound convinced. "I'm pretty cultured myself."
Derek laughed dryly, still staring at the door, seeing three men in flight suits appear, an older guy and two
teenagers. Still no gunner from Portland. "You were crossed with wild carnivores; they got the genes for
Greenies out of a cantaloupe."

Leo sounded shocked. "Really, a cantaloupe?"

"Just a figure of speech," Derek assured him, praying for the door to dilate again.

"Still, it explains a lot," Leo decided. Derek's heart leaped as he saw the Portland woman emerge from
the concealed lock carrying an oxygen bottle, trudging toward the big Bug-mobiles. He waited to see
which Bug-mobile she chose, and saw her come straight to theirs. Good sign.

Taking a big swig of oxygen and hoisting Brad onto his shoulder, he stepped into her path, saying, "Hi,
Portland. Glad you came out."

Stranded in Ares system, facing internment and a war-crimes trial, the failed settler shrugged. "I hardly
had a choice."

"None of us did," he admitted. "My name's Derek."

"I know." She nodded, not offering hers.

"What's yours?" He could get it from the Greenies, but he wanted to hear her say it.

"Tammy," Brad announced loudly. "That is Tammy."

Tammy smiled, but did not speak. Looking up, Derek thanked the boy on his shoulder, then handed him
to Tammy. "Keep him away from the Greenies if you can."

Tammy took the boy, and climbed onto the covered carrier atop the Bug-mobile, with Brad looking up
at her, saying, "I saw a SuperCat!" Rising up on their sixteen legs, the Bugs swiftly bore the prisoners
away toward the landing field. Derek had to stay.

The truce had expired. Satisfied that no one else was coming out, Leo signaled to the heavy weapons,
and an armor-piercing missile slammed into the bunker door, blowing the outer lock to pieces and
blocking the entrance with rubble. If Tammy had been at her gun port, she would have been dead, and
Derek would have killed her, since negotiations had revealed the concealed entrance. With Pender and
his people sealed in, Leo pulled his troops back before the Osiris missile arrived. Taking shelter in the