Звездный десант
Chapter 13
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Thecall-offwasraggedandslow—toomanymissingfilesasIcouldseefrommyphysicalsdisplay.Butthemop-upwaspreciseandfast.IrangedaroundtheedgeandgothalfadozenBugsmyself—thelastofthemsuddenlybecameactivejustbeforeIflamedit.Whydidconcussiondazethemmorethanitdidus?Becausetheywereunarmored?OrwasittheirbrainBug,somewheredownbelow,thatwasdazed?
Thecall-offshowednineteeneffectives,plustwodead,twohurt,andthreeoutofactionthroughsuitfailure—andtwooftheselatterNavarrewasrepairingbyvandalizingpowerunitsfromsuitsofdeadandwounded.Thethirdsuitfailurewasinradio&radarandcouldnotberepaired,soNavarreassignedthemantoguardthewounded,thenearestthingtopickupwecouldmanageuntilwewererelieved.
InthemeantimeIwasinspecting,withSergeantCunha,thethreeplaceswheretheBugshadbrokenthroughfromtheirnestbelow.Comparisonwiththesubmapshowed,asonecouldhaveguessed,thattheyhadcutexitsattheplaceswheretheirtunnelswereclosesttothesurface.
Oneholehadclosed;itwasaheapoflooserock.ThesecondonedidnotshowBugactivity;ItoldCunhatopostalanceandaprivatetherewithorderstokillsingleBugs,closetheholewithabombiftheystartedtopouroutit’sallverywellfortheSkyMarshaltositupthereanddecidethatholesmustnotbeclosed,butIhadasituation,notatheory.
