"Stephen Goldin - The Eternity Brigade" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldin Stephen)

squad to talk to.

The leader of this particular squad was a human, but Hawker quickly
established that the two of them had no language in common. Once again
the Spardian was pressed into service as a translator, informing Hawker
that their squad had been assigned to defend Sector 14 against possible
breakthroughs by enemy troops. Hawker nodded. There wasn't much
more he needed to know; he could take his lead from the rest of the squad.

When everyone was outfitted, the sergeant reappeared and said a few
more words—probably last-minute instructions and/or words of
encouragement. No one really listened; each squad was busy trying to
make itself into a fighting unit rather than the random assortment of
individuals it actually was. Perhaps the sergeant himself finally realized he
was hindering more than helping, for he shut up abruptly and let the
squad leaders do their job.

There was little enough time for that. All too quickly, the troops were
pointed to the elevators and brought to the surface, where they would be
dispersed to their particular sectors.

Hawker's first glimpse of the surface confirmed all his suspicions to
date. The town they were defending was in bad shape; in fact, to all
appearances it was lost already.

The sky overhead was dark, despite having two suns above the horizon.
Clouds of black smoke hung over the city, evidence of fires wrought by
enemy weapons. Although the air on this planet should have been
breathable, the stinging sensation of smoke made it far from pleasant.
There were tears in Hawker's eyes, and he wished there'd been gas masks
available; rubbing at his eyes with the backs of his hands, he followed the
rest of his squad to their designated sector.

All about them was rubble and desolation. Hawker had no idea what
world he was on, what the original inhabitants had been like or how
splendid their town had looked before falling to the ravages of this war. He
could only see the end result: no building over four stories stood intact,
and even the smaller ones had windows shattered by the constant
bombardment of enemy artillery; large impact craters dotted the streets,
hindering progress; vehicles abandoned, overturned, burned; dead bodies
lying everywhere, some killed directly by enemy fire, others indirectly by
being trapped under a collapsing building. And nowhere, other than his
fellow troopers, could Hawker see a sign of life. Everyone capable of fleeing
had already deserted the city, leaving the opposing armies to decide the
issue.

Let the soldiers fight it out, the citizens said by their actions. Then tell
us what the outcome is. At times like this, Hawker often wondered what
was the difference between cowardice and common sense.