"Resnick, Mike - Dispatches" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

light shot out of it, missing me only by inches, and instantly setting the bush
beside me ablaze. I jumped in the opposite direction as it fired its sword of
heat again, and again the forest combusted in a blinding conflagration.

I turned and raced back the way I had come. After perhaps sixty yards I chanced
a look back, and saw that the creature was following me. However, despite its
many physical attributes, speed was not to be counted among them. I used that to
my advantage, putting enough distance between us so that it lost sight of me. I
then jumped into the nearby river, making sure that no water should invade my
rifle. Here, at least, I felt safe from the indirect effects of the creature's
heat weapon.

It came down the path some forty seconds later. Rather than shooting it
immediately, I let it walk by while I studied it, looking for vulnerable areas.
The thing bore no body armor as such, not even the type of body plating that our
mutual friend Corbett describes on the Indian rhino, yet its skin seemed
impervious to bullets. Its body, which I now could see in its entirety, was
almost perfectly spherical except for the head and tentacles, and there were no
discernable weak or thin spots where head and tentacles joined the trunk.

Still, I couldn't let it continue along the path, because sooner or later it
would come upon my men, who were totally unprepared for it. I looked for an
earhole, could not find one, and with only the back of its head to shoot at felt
that I could not do it any damage. So I stood up, waist deep in the water, and
yelled at it. It turned toward me, and as it did so I put two more bullets into
its left eye.

Its reaction was the same as before, but much shorter in duration. Then it
regained control of itself, stared balefully at me through both eyes -- the good
one and the one that had taken three bullets -- and began walking toward me,
weapon in hand . . . and therein I thought I saw a way by which I might finally
disable it.

I began walking backward in the water, and evidently the creature felt some
doubt about the weapon's accuracy, because it entered the water and came after
me. I stood motionless, my sights trained on the sword of heat. When the
creature was perhaps thirty yards from me, it came to a halt and raised its
weapon -- and as it did so, I fired.

The sword of heat flew from the creature's hand, spraying its deadly light in
all directions. Then it fell into the water, its muzzle -- if that is the right
word, and I very much suspect that it isn't --pointing at the creature. The
water around it began boiling and hissing as steam rose, and the creature
screeched once and sank beneath the surface of the river.

It took about five minutes before [felt safe in approaching it -- after all, I
had no idea how long it could hold its breath -- but sure enough, as I had
hoped, the beast was dead.

I have never before seen anything like it, and I will be stuffing and mounting