"Dafydd ab Hugh, Brad Linaweawer DOOM: Endgame (english)" - читать интересную книгу автораflesh; Arlene and I backed up a step, thank GodЧ
when the belly burst, blue-gray Newbie blood or fluid sprayed across the sickbay, splashing the wall and even spotting my uniform slightly. A gray serpent slithered through the opening . . . but the true horror was that the serpent had six heads! Then I blinked, and the scene abruptly changed: it wasn't a six-headed serpent; it was a tentacle with six prongs, or "fingers," at the end. It lashed about uncontrolled for a few minutes, falling limp at last. The Newbie opened his eyes. "Are you finished considering our information?" He seemed not at all perturbed by the new addition to his anatomy; in fact, he didn't even remark on it. I tried to think of a subtle way of asking what the hell was going on, but Arlene beat me to the line, demanding, "How the hell did you grow a tentacle out of your gut?" The Newbie looked down in obvious surprise. "We aren't sure what event has stimulated this growth." "It'll come to you, I'm sure," I muttered, "but we're not quite finished considering your information. Please excuse us." The Newbie became rigid again, and its vital signs dropped away to zero. I stepped back and spoke for hadn't evolved super-sensitive hearing in the last five minutes. "We are in deep, deep kimchee, kiddo." She looked up and down. "Oh, come on; we can still take it." Her red brows furrowed, then raised. "Oh! You mean we Earthlings? Yeep, I hadn't even thought of that. Damn." Newbies, hundreds of millions of Newbies, scour- ing the galaxy looking for races to "fix," evolving so rapidly that they were a whole different species from one battle to the next. Newbies with a violent streak sufficient to wipe the Freds from the face of their home planet. Newbies discovering the embryonic human race, just beginning to poke our noses into the interga- lactic frayЧthese were frightening thoughts. Arlene grimaced and absently tugged at her ear, following her own agitated turn of thought. "Fly, we have to find them. We have to find out which way they're headed and warn Earth." "What is Earth by now? Maybe we deserve wiping out . . . who knows?" Now she turned the brunt of her blue-eyed, icy anger on me. "I don't think I follow youЧSergeant." "Just thinking out loud; don't pay any attention. Course we're going to warn the country, or what's left |
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