"Charles Ingrid - The Sand Wars 04 - Alien Salute" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ingrid Charles)

sentience knew what it was he had to have to finish regeneration. Berserkers
ate their way through blood and flesh. Though there was no denying that
Jack's presence in the suit vitalized Bogie, neither knew how. Because of
that, and Bogie's hardwired-like psychic hookup with the suit circuitry itself,
he had not removed and incubated the chamois. He feared killing the
creature that way. From a liability, Bogie had become an asset. From a
parasite, he had evolved into a companion. Jack didn't like the armor's
coldness and considered the fragility of life that was Bogie's present state.
The only way he knew to warm the suit was to wear it. He looked about the
massive ceiling of the gym. It had once been part of the freight hold, he
decided.

He had room. "How about we suit up and go through some basic
exercises?"

*I would like that.*

Jack unsealed the seams and got in. He spent some time clipping leads to
his bare torso before settling in and then sealing himself up.

The holo came up, a soft-tinted rosy glow that read his muscular
movement and relayed it to the suit, through a step-up transformer. A blow
meant to swat a butterfly could conceivably crush a small mammal. Such
was the power of a man once inside a suit.

There was more now. Jack felt the immediate enveloping embrace of
Bogie, close and intimate, like a lover.

Only this being was born to fight, Jack knew. Just as he had been sworn
to. Jack smiled tightly to himself as he finished suiting up. "Okay, Bogie.
Let's pretend we're killing Thraks."

*Kick ass, boss,* the armor responded.
 He began to drill.

Neither man nor machine saw the twilight wrapped shadow that watched
from the far recesses of the hold as, with a muffled burp, Harkness reeled
out of sight and lumbered back down the corridors of his command.



The navigator frowned at his blipping screen. "I don't like it," he
complained to his employer.

Harness hawked and swallowed it down. "Quit whining," he said. "What
do you want me to do, pull out of hyperspace and make a fracking
coordinate change? We might end up inside solid rock."

Alij stabbed a pointed nail at his screen. "Sir, we might anyway.
Something's happening out there, and I don't like it."