"Lawrence Watt-Evans - War Surplus 01 - The Cyborg And The Sorcerers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

for bloodshed."

"I can't surrender, damn it Stay away, or I'll have to kill you." It was his conscious self that spoke, but the
combat persona maintained control of his limbs in a curiously uncomfortable way. Two fingers of his left
hand found the latch, but he could not easily work it while holding the snark.
"Please, we can help you, I'm sure we can."

"Stay away from me. In fact, get out of this room, and close the door behind you. And take the girl with
you."

"Listen, you don't—"

The wizard's plea was cut off short by the roar of the gun as Slant fired a warning burst into the ceiling.
"Get out •" of here!"

It occurred to him that the computer might object to his chasing them away rather than killing them; he
hoped that it would give him time to explain that killing them would ' just bring more enemies down on
him.

The wizard stepped back, moving his staff oddly, and Slant thought for a moment that the four Teyzhans
were actually departing; then the wizard said, "Take him," and Slant realized that he had simply been
getting out of the way of the three swordsmen.

The warriors marched forward—a mistake, Slant's training told him, as a quick charge would have been
their best tactic here. His finger squeezed the trigger, and the gun's roar filled the room again. He watched
a dozen rounds richochet off his attackers' bare faces; more magic was at work.

The wizard's voice sounded over the echoes as he stopped his useless fire. "We have protective spells.
You're helpless."

The submachine gun might have been countered, but these people had not seen the snark in use before
tonight. Could a protective spell stop something other than solid matter? He brought up his left hand and
pressed the trigger in a single motion.

The foremost attacker was just a single pace away; his blood spattered Slant from throat to ankle as the
beam cut into the warrior's chest. The man fell forward, gasping in agony, to lie in a pool of his own
blood; his companions froze. There was a moment of dead.silence when the victim's breath stopped, a
moment in which none of them moved; Slant held the snark at ready, his finger on the trigger.

From the side, where she sat on the bed, the girl suddenly screamed as her horror overcame her initial
shock; startled, Slant whirled toward her, pressing the trigger, cutting a narrow slice of destruction that
ended in the girl's upraised wrist as she lifted her hand to cover her eyes. Another fountain of blood
gushed forth, and Slant had time for an instant of revulsion before the pommel of a sword landed on his
skull and knocked him to the floor, unconscious.



Chapter Seven

THERE WAS A SHATTERING ROAR OF WHITE NOISE IN HIS head, and the computer's