"Michael A. Stackpole - BattleTech - Mechwarrior - Dark Age 01 - Ghost War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stackpole Michael A)

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the authorтАЩs
Imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.



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1
Wise men think twice before they act once.

тАФAncient Terran proverb

LearyтАЩs Eyrie

Joppa, Helen

Prefecture III, Republic of the Sphere

13 November 3132

Ionce heard someone complain that the two most abundant things in the universe were hydrogen and
stupidity, but she declined to say which led the way. I figure that in the random distribution of things
throughout the universe, hydrogen probably has the edge, but in LearyтАЩs Eyrie stupidity was being
stockpiled at an alarming rate. This wasnтАЩt unusual or even rare, but the pressure of it seemed to dull
even smart folks and fray nerves.

IтАЩd come to the Eyrie hoping for a Tri-Vid beer ad. Not for a specific advert, mind you, but the sort of
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situation they depict: warm night, hot woman, cold beer, sweatтАФon the beer bottle and otherwise. I
wanted the full-on fantasy that had inspired generations of men to swill the liquid that gave them the
bellies they sucked in when such a woman appeared in their midst. I knew it was a fantasy, but that was
all we had out here in the hinterland of Helen.

Of course, I wasnтАЩt looking much like a fantasy. Or an ad, unless it was one of those late-night ads for a
product that is guaranteed to make you feel younger, look younger and turbo-charge the parts youтАЩd
need working if the beer-ad fantasy came through. The crew and I had just come off the line after