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

"No," Jonny said. "I wanted to look at some stuff out there, that's all."

" 'Stuff'?"

Jonny felt his face growing warm. He didn't want to lie, but he knew that a fully truthful answer
would automatically be followed by a family discussion, and he wasn't prepared for a confrontation
just yet. "Yeah. Just... things I want to check out."

"Like the Military Command recruitment center?" Pearce asked quietly.

The background clatter of dishes being moved and stacked cut off abruptly, and in the silence Jonny
heard his mother's sharp intake of air. "Jonny?" she asked.

He sighed and braced himself for the now inevitable discussion. "I wouldn't have enlisted without
talking to all of you first," he said. "I just wanted to go get some information—procedures,
requirements; that sort of thing."

"Jonny, the war is a long way away—" Irena began.

"I know, Momer," Jonny interrupted. "But there are people dying out there—"

"All the more reason to stay here."

"—not just soldiers, but civilians, too," he continued doggedly. "I just think—well, Dader said today
that there wasn't anything I could do to help." He shifted his attention to Pearce. "Maybe not... but
maybe I shouldn't give up to statistical generalities quite so quickly."

A smile twitched briefly at Pearce's lip without touching the rest of his face. "I remember when the
full gist of your arguments could be boiled down to 'because I said so, that's why.' "

"Must be college that's doing it," Jame murmured from the kitchen door. "I think they're also
teaching him a little about fixing computers in between the argument seminars."

Jonny sent a quick frown in his brother's direction, annoyed at the apparent attempt to sidetrack the
discussion. But Irena wasn't about to be distracted. "What about college, now that we're on that
topic?" she asked. "You've got a year to go before you get your certificate. You'd at least stay that
long, wouldn't you?"

Jonny shook his head. "I don't see how I can. A whole year—look at what the Trofts have done in
just three months."

"But your education is important, too—"

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Cobra


"All right, Jonny," Pearce cut off his wife quietly. "Go to Horizon City if you'd like and talk to the
recruiters."