"Dafydd ab Hugh, Brad Linaweawer DOOM: Endgame (english)" - читать интересную книгу автораscooping up protons and alpha particles and funnel-
ing them into the "jets," where the heat from direct conversion of matter to energy turned the hydrogen into a stream of plasma out the ass-end. No other way could we accelerate so near the speed of light in only three or four days. The thruster at the back looked exactly like a standpipe. I kid you not; I caught myself looking for the faucet that would turn on the water. We rounded the stern and headed for'ard again. About a kilometer from the stern, we found itЧwe found our first, and only, Newbie body. Arlene saw something and jogged forward; I dropped to one knee and covered her, watching her through my snap-up rifle scope. She ran under the ship, finally having to crouch and skitter sideways for the last couple score meters; this close to the ship, the underside looked like a building overhang where it rose away from the cup-shaped LZ. "Jesus," she muttered. "Sergeant Fly, get your butt up here and eyeball this thing." "What is it?" I asked, trotting toward her position at port-arms. "I'd rather you saw it for yourself without precon- ceptions." She sounded tense and excited, and I By the time I approached, I was panting. Jeez, what adding another stripe does to a Marine's physical fitness! Arlene didn't look tense; her RK-150 hung off her back totally casual. She was staring at something underneath the ship, where you'd have to crawl on your hands and knees to see it. She shone a pencil- light on the thing; it looked like a body of some sort, or was once . . . but definitely not a Fred. "Hold my rifle," I said, handing it to her. "I'm going under and take a look." She eyed the overhanging ship uneasily. "You sure this thing isn't going to roll over on you?" "If'n it do, li'l lady," I said, doing my Gunny Goforth imitation, "we-all gwan be inna heap'a trou- bles." The ship overhung us even where we stood, stretching a good fifty meters beyond us; if it chose to roll over, we'd be squashed like a bug on a bullet anyway, no matter where we stood. But I sure didn't like crawling under the thing; I could feel the mass of immensity over my back; I got about ten meters in when I experienced a rush of utter, total panic. I'd never felt claustrophobic before! Why then? The ship felt like an upside-down moun- tain balanced on its peak, ready to topple over and |
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