"Timothy Zahn - The Mandalorian Armor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

from his grasp upon it. His feet swung out from beneath
him; Dengar looked down, past his own boots, and saw that
the hole at the bottom of the sand funnel was lined with
teeth.
Jaws clenched, Dengar muttered an obscenity from his
homeworld. You gnurling idiot-he cursed his own
stupidity, getting himself stuck here in the middle of
the air, with no escape route. He hadn't considered what
his presence might awaken, and how hungry it would be.
The Great Pit of Carkoon gaped wider, sand and rubble
swirling around the blind, all-devouring Sarlacc creature
at the center of the vortex. A sour stench hit Dengar
like a wind hotter than any that crossed the desert's
reaches.
A glance around him revealed to Dengar that the
keelbeam had slid partway down the funnel, then snagged
on a solid rock outcropping. He turned his face against
his shoulder as the sail barge's scattered debris rained
past him, the larger pieces hitting the Pit's sloping
sides and pitching end over end into the Sarlacc's gaping
maw. The keelbeam gave a sudden lurch in Dengar's
sweating grasp as the end below him shattered part of the
outcropping. Suddenly the beam swayed backward, leaving
him dangling precariously, only a couple of meters from
the Sarlacc's throat.
A pumping kick enabled him to get first one, then the
other of his boot soles up onto the beam. He squatted
into a deep knee bend on the narrow metal surface, then
jumped, fingertips clawing for the funnel's edge above
him. His belly hit the slope; sand slid maddeningly under
his hands as he thrashed and kicked, struggling toward
the bright and empty sky. With a gasp of effort, Dengar
managed to get his chest across the shifting edge of the
funnel, then scrabble the rest of his body over and
tumble down the other side.
Too bad for the Jawas-that was all that Dengar could
think of as he wrapped his arms around himself and waited
for the animate disturbance in Tatooine's crust to
subside. There might have been something of worth brought
to the surface; but unless the little scroungers wanted
to dive down the Sarlacc's throat to get it, that load of
valuable salvage was lost to them now.
The Dune Sea grew silent again. Dengar let a minute
pass, measured by his heartbeat gradually slowing to
normal, then scrambled to his feet. The Sarlacc had most
likely pulled its head back underground and was busy
digesting the bits of wreckage it'd just been fed, or
trying to. He figured that would give him time enough to
get a safe distance away, if he hurried. Brushing sand
from his gear, Dengar started trudging up the slope of