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

shoulder. Multicolored sparks covered the mek’s outer surface, and the dagger

dropped from its mechanical grip to clatter on the floor of the training chamber.

A wisp of smoke rose from the robot’s hand.

Vergyl moved in for the kill. He didn’t care if anyone needed this fighting

unit for training. He wanted to destroy it, to burn it into molten remains. He

thought of Serena, of little Manion, of all the humans slaughtered . . . and of his

own inability to fight for the Jihad. This scapegoat mek would have to do for

now.

But as he stepped forward, suddenly the flowmetal of the robot’s free hand

shifted, reshaping itself, to extrude a short sword with barbs on the blade. The

other hand stopped sparking, and a matching weapon also formed there.

“Careful, young warrior. We wouldn’t want the Army of the Jihad to lose

your construction skills.”

DUNE: WHIPPING MEK

13

Feeling a surge of anger at the remark, Vergyl snapped, “I’m not afraid of

this machine.”

“Fear is not always unwise.”

“Even against a stupid opponent? Chirox doesn’t even know I’m ridiculing

him, does he?”

“I am just a machine,” the mek recited, his synthesized voice coming from a

speaker patch. Vergyl was taken aback, thinking he had caught just a

hint of sarcasm in the robot’s voice. Like a theatrical mask, his face did not

change its expression.

“Chirox doesn’t usually say much,” Noret said, smiling. “Go ahead, pound