"Dafydd ab Hugh, Brad Linaweawer DOOM: Endgame (english)" - читать интересную книгу автораblack of our standard-issue combat suits and Sears
and Roebuck's muted orange flightsuits, which they had worn ever since the mission began. Everything else was the color of dingy gray socks that hadn't been washed in a month. "Okay, S and R, what the hell did you mean about us being shot at?" My tongue couldn't help exploring the new hole in my mouth, where the tooth had been; the hole still throbbed, but the sharp pain was gone. Gotta get S and R to fix this, I promised. "Meaned what was said; they were firing at us shots from cannons." "Energy weapons, artillery shells, what?" Extract- ing usable information from Sears and Roebuck was worse than sitting through a briefing by Lieutenant WeemsЧmay he rest in peace for a good long time. "Were firing the slugs from the electromagnabetic accelerating gun." "Um, a rail gun?" asked Arlene, picking up on the answer faster than I. Anything to do with exotic technology or weaponry was A.S.'s subjectЧshe could lecture for hours on ogre tanks and orbiting "smart spears," and she sometimes did. "Yes, the rail gun," confirmed Sears and Roebuck. I sort of knew what a rail gun was: you took slugs of shell casing, and accelerated them to several kilome- ters per second velocity using electromagnets. The resulting "gun" could damn near put shells into orbitЧthey moved so fast, they punched through any sort of imaginable armor like a bullet through thin glass. It was a horrific weapon we had never been able to make work properly. The first shot always de- stroyed the target, but generally also our rail-gun prototype! I licked dry lips. If the enemyЧNewbies or Freds?Чcould build a tactical-size version, our com- bat armor would be utterly useless; if we ever took a shot, we'd be toast. The desert was evidently deserted; but the solitude did not begin to compare to the vast loneliness of the starry void. I stared at the desolation, taking some comfort in the feel of ground beneath my feet, the breath of wind against my armor. The air smelled tangyЧozoneЧbut so far I was breathing all right. "Hey S and R," I called, softly under such a sky, "is that ozone from our ship, or is it natural to the atmosphere?" "We didn't detect it orbitally," they answered in unison. I shrugged. If any of us had asthma, it might |
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