"S. M. Stirling & David Drake - The General 01 - The Forge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stirling S. M)

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The General, Vol. I: The
Forge by S.M. Stirling
and David Drake (1991)

Chapter One
The rat screamed.

Raj Whitehall spun on one heel, the beam of his carbide lamp
stabbing out scarcely faster than the pistol in his right hand.

"Shit," he muttered, as the light fell on the corner of the
underground chamber. The rodent was dead now, dangling from
the jaws of a cat-sized spersauroid, a slinky thing with a huge
head and slender body carried high on four spidery legs. It
blinked at them with eyelids that closed to a vertical slit, and
then was gone with a rustle of scales against rubble. Raj
grimaced. One of the few pleasant things about living in East
Residence was that Terran life had mostly replaced the local. But
not in the catacombs, it seemed.

Thom Poplanich laughed. "Careful, Raj," he said. "Those
bullets will bounce, you know."

Raj grinned back a trifle sheepishly as he holstered the
weapon. A genuine five-shot revolver, it was as much a badge of
nobleman's rank as was the saber he carried slung over one
shoulder. Both were as familiar as his clothes; Whitehall had
been born in Descott County, hard country two weeks' journey
north of the capital, where men went armed from puberty. The
platinum stars and hunting scenes inlaid in the steel of the
revolver were a badge as well, of membership in the Governor's
Guard.

"Spirit of Man of the Stars," Raj said, and touched the silver
wafer etched in holy circuits that hung around his neck. "This
place makes my skin crawl." Everyone knew the catacombs
under New Residence were ancient and hugeтАж but those were
just words until you saw it. This complex could house the whole
population of the capital, with room to spareтАФand New
Residence was the largest city on Earth.

"Not a spot for a picnic," Poplanich agreed.