"Dune 03 - Whipping Mek (Short Story)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

Vergyl hefted the sword to check its balance. Shimmering arcs of disruptive

energy ran along the surface of its blade.

He took a deep breath and studied the combat mek, who stared back at him

dispassionately, its eyelike optic sensors glowing orange . . . waiting. The sensors

shifted direction, watched Noret approach and prepared for another opponent.

When the mercenary activated the mek, only two of the six mechanical arms

emerged from the torso. One metal hand clasped a dagger, while the other was

empty.

DUNE: WHIPPING MEK

12

“It’s fighting me at a low difficulty setting,” Vergyl complained.

“Perhaps Chirox is just testing you. In actual combat, your adversary will

never provide a resumй of his skills beforehand.”

Vergyl moved carefully toward the mek, then shifted to his left and circled,

holding the pulse sword. He felt moisture on his palm, loosened his grip a bit.

The mek kept turning to face him. Its dagger hand twitched, and Vergyl jabbed

at the robot’s weapon with the electronic sword, hitting it with a purple pulse

that caused the robot to shudder.

“Looks like a dumb machine to me.” He had imagined combat like this.

Vergyl darted toward his opponent and struck the torso with the pulse sword,

leaving a purple discoloration on the metal body. He tapped a blue button on the

weapon’s handle until it reached the highest pulse setting.

“Go for the head,” Noret counseled. “Scramble the robot’s circuits to slow

him. If you strike Chirox just right, he will need a minute or two to reconfigure.”

Again Vergyl struck, but missed the head, sliding down to the armored