"Dafydd ab Hugh, Brad Linaweawer DOOM: Infernal Sky (english)" - читать интересную книгу автораMosiah, Alma, Helaman, Third and Fourth Nephi,
Book of Mormon, Esther, and Moroni. The scientific explanations carried only so much weight with me. That we could witness today's events made every holy text in the history of the human race seem more relevant to modern man. If the Tabernacle had just been nuked, however, I needed to seriously rethink the prophecies. Arlene looked fit and trim and beautifully deadly as we went to Colonel Hooker's office. This was no time for ladies first. I outranked her. I enjoyed outranking a woman who was fit and trim and beautifully deadly. The door was already open, and the colonel was sitting behind his desk when I reached his threshold. It had been a long time since I'd pounded the pines. I stood in the doorway, raised my hand, and rapped on the doorframe three times, good and hard. Colonel Hooker looked up with a grim expression. God only knew how many of us were left in the world. The best thing about being a marine is the pride, which gets back to the question of how a rabid individualist chooses to serve. When you're a marine, you choose; and men you respect must choose you, and respect is a two-way street paved with honor. Pity the poor monsters who got in our way. "Thank you, sir!" Arlene and I responded in unison. We went into his office, and he offered us each one of his Afuente Gran Reserva cigars. They were big suckers. Too bad neither Arlene nor I smoked. He lit up and ordered us to become comfortable. "I want to be certain you both understand the full implications," he said. "This is a four-man mission. The director has already pointed out your unique qualifications. We might as well be frank about it. This is not a mission from which anyone is expected to return." I glanced over at Arlene without being too obvious about it. Her face was an impassive mask. She looks that way only when she is exerting superhuman control. It didn't take a telepath to read her thoughts: Albert, Albert, Albert. The colonel must have had a telepathic streak himself. The next word out of his mouth was "Al- bert." Arlene's mask cracked to the extent that her eyes grew very wide. "Albert is my third choice for this mission," Hooker went on. "I've chosen him because of his record before the invasion and also because he's a veteran of fighting these damned |
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