"Dafydd ab Hugh, Brad Linaweawer DOOM: Infernal Sky (english)" - читать интересную книгу автора

than I do. So does Fly. There is that link between
them.
We are under orders more severe than any monas-
tery could impose. Perversely, I have taken an oath of
celibacy that she has not taken. Arlene Sanders is a
worldly woman, whether on this planet or off.
But I am honest enough to admit that I have no
intention of changing. If it were proven to me tomor-
row that the Mormon faith is false, I would not
become a moral relativist. I would not treat human
relations as casual affairs. I take people too seriously
for that. I'd still believe in my morality even if no God
provided supernatural guidance.
I pray that one day Arlene will understand how
much faith I have in her. Suddenly I realize that I
can't write her a letter. I have to tell her all this in
person. Despite all my reservations, I must have the
courage of my convictions.
I'm going to ask her to marry me.
"Arlene, look out!"
The little voice in the back of my head just wouldn't
shut up about how stupid it was to go anywhere
without being armed to the teeth. Arlene and I hadn't
felt safe enough to go unarmed since the first day of
the Phobos invasion. We even kidded each other
about going to the beach without either of us packing
a piece. I wouldn't have minded seeing her with a nice
Colt .45 strapped to her and leaving its mark on her
nearly naked body. She's my buddy, but I still have an
imagination.
Here we were in a stronghold of humanity. This was
one place where we didn't have to feel like the black
gang-banger surrounded by white cops in what a
police commissioner might refer to as a target-rich
environment. Here we could let down our hair—a
joke when you have a marine haircut—and go naked,
which has nothing to do with clothes and everything
to do with being unarmed.
Nothing threatened us on the beach, except maybe
that lazy shark we'd noticed right before coming in.
We didn't have any need of firepower when we went
through the security check. We simply needed our big
bath towels because the air conditioning was on full
blast inside. It was still our day of R&R, and neither
of us was in a rush to get back into uniform. I'd never
enjoyed wearing civvies more in my life.
We weren't expecting trouble as we went looking for
Jill. Ackerman's monster lab was a lot closer than
Albert, who'd "gone to town," and Arlene figured her
beau still needed time alone.