"Timothy Zahn - Cobra 1 - Cobra" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

rifle in one hand and a radio in the other. If you choose to join up you'll receive some of the most
extensive training and the absolute top-of-the-line weaponry available." He gestured to the man
seated beside him. "Cee-three Shri Bai will be the chief training instructor for this unit. He'll now
demonstrate a little of what you, as Cobras, will be able to do."

Bai laid his comboard beside his chair and started to stand up—and halfway through the motion he
shot toward the ceiling.

Caught by surprise, Jonny saw only the blur as Bai leaped—but the twin thunderclaps from above
and behind him were the gut-wrenching signs of a rocket-assisted flight gone horribly bad. He spun
around in his seat, bracing for the sight of Bai's broken body—

Bai was standing calmly by the door, a hint of a smile on his face as he looked around at what must
have been some pretty stunned expressions. "I'm sure all of you know," he said, "that using either a
lift pack or exoskeleton muscle enhancers would be foolhardy in such a confined room. Um? So
watch again."

His knees bent a few degrees, and with the same thump-thump he was back on the dais. "All right,"
he said. "Who saw what I did?"

Silence... and then a hand went tentatively up. "You bounced off the ceiling, I think," the recruit
said, a bit uncertainly. "Uh... your shoulders took the impact?"

"In other words, you didn't really see," Bai nodded. "I actually flipped halfway over on the way up,
took the impact with my feet, and continued around to be upright when I landed."

Jonny's mouth felt a little dry. The ceiling was no more than five meters up. To have done that much
maneuvering in that small a space...

"The point, aside from the power and precision of the jump itself," Mendro said, "is that even you,
who knew what was going to happen, couldn't follow Bai's movement. Consider how it would work
against a roomful of Trofts who weren't expecting it. Next—"

He broke off as the door opened and one more recruit came in. "Viljo?" Bai asked, retrieving the
comboard at his feet.

"Yes, sir," the newcomer nodded. "Sorry I'm late, sir—the registration people were running slow."

"Oh?" Bai waved the comboard. "Says here you went through the line at 1450. That's—let's
see—seventeen minutes before Moreau, who got here seven minutes earlier than you did. Um?"

Viljo turned a bright red. "I... guess maybe I got a little lost. Sir."

"With all the signs posted around the complex? Not to mention all the regular Army personnel
wandering around? Um?"

Viljo was beginning to look like a hunted animal. "I... I stopped to look at the exhibits in the entry

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