"Bud Sparhawk - Bright Red Star" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sparhawk Bud)

Crack of a twig brought me to my feet. It was Hunter and a little girl. "Cave up there," with a head nod.
"Three dead men—three, four days gone." That tied with the time we'd received the burst.
She was a tiny thing—about nine or ten, I'd say—bright eyes and scraggly red hair. Good teeth. Looked
scared as hell. I could understand that—Hunter wasn't being very gentle as he dumped her at my feet.

"What's your name?" I stooped to bring my head to her level.

"You them aliens?" she asked all wide-eyed. "How come you talk like us?"

"We're combat soldiers," I answered. "We're humans, just like you, sweetheart. Now, come on; what's
your name?"

"Becky," she finally spit out. "How come you're still here? Paw said everybody left."

"We came back to take care of you and the others," I answered truthfully. "We can't afford to let you fall
into enemy hands."

"Paw and the Paston boys thought you'd come," she said.

"How did they die?"

Becky seemed fascinated by my sidearm. They shot them after the Pastons used the mayday thing. I hid
in the back where they couldn't find me. Are you going to punish them for doing that?"

That got my attention. Takes a real idiot to shoot the people who demonstrated good sense. I began to
doubt that the Shardies would've gotten much use out of whatever mush these jerks used for brains.
"Right, sweetheart, we'll punish them, but first you have to tell us where they are."

"Did you bring a ship to take us away?" Becky asked as she fingered the butt of my AC-43. "That was
why Paw grabbed the mayday—to get us a rescue ship."

"We came to make sure the enemy doesn't get you," I answered honestly. "Listen, we don't have much
time. Can you take us to where the others are hiding?"

"I think they're still over at the Truett place," she said, pointing to the east.

I nodded to Hunter, who was already directing the scouts eastward. I picked up Becky and moved out.
Hunter covered my rear. "Can you tell us how to get there?"

"You mean to the Truetts' place?" Becky asked. "Sure. There's a big field there. That where the rescue
ship's going to land?"

The Shardie ships we'd managed to capture more or less intact were completely empty—no aliens at
all—just glass of various colors and shapes. Either the ships were highly automated, or the Shardies had
destroyed themselves completely so they would not fall into our hands. Suicidal, or so we thought.
Eventually, we discovered some living creatures, if you can call them that, aboard one of their ships.

One of the things we'd learned was that if we had sufficient warning, we could defend ourselves fairly
well. Sometimes we managed to drive them off, and sometimes not. Every battle was fought hard and
long, usually with massive losses on both sides. Our defensive successes managed to achieve, at best,