Science Fiction: The Year's Best (2006 Edition). Аластер Рейнольдс

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СКАЧАТЬ command flashed out of Sabor’s brain. His information system dispatched a message to Colonel Jina.

      “We are avoiding inflicting irreversible damage on your expensive assets, colonel. I would appreciate it you would render my assistants the same courtesy.”

      He had been bargaining and haggling all his life. The process apparently continued when you switched to non-monetary situations.

      Choy’s platform rose half a meter. Sabor turned his head and realized his own widemount was sinking. He checked his display and discovered the widemount’s armor had been overwhelmed. The hardbodies had apparently been concentrating their fire on their ultimate objective.

      “Get on my platform,” Choy said. “The extra widemount is right behind us. We’ll continue the attack.”

      Sabor scrambled onto Choy’s platform. He checked his personal armor and discovered he had only absorbed two hits. He had kept his head and stayed low when he had fired at the cat attacking Choy.

      “This is rather exhilarating,” Sabor said. “Isn’t there some saying about war being the continuation of diplomacy by other means? Should we assume the same maxim can be applied to financial activities?”

      They were now about five paces from the point they had been driving toward. The two hardbodies in front of them were holding their position and pouring moles into the four-legged fortresses bearing down on their position. On the display, symbols marked the places where the other hardbodies were firing from Sabor’s right.

      The fourth widemount pushed into the gap created by the loss of Sabor’s animal. Choy gestured at its back and Sabor slid off Choy’s widemount and flattened himself on top of the bin that hung from the cargo animal’s side. His right hand tightened around a braided cable.

      “You have a message from Heinrich Dobble.”

      “Run it.”

      Heinrich’s image rose between Sabor and the action at the front of Sabor’s visual field. “Dobryami has crossed the border, Sabor. My sources advise me she has forty soldiers advancing through Kenzan’s possession.”

      Sabor reacted without missing a breath. “Message for Financier Zara Nev. Apply simulation seven. Text: I believe it would be in your best interest to reconsider your position and join our common stand against Kenzan Khan’s attempt at extortion. Kenzan is doomed. Possessor Dobryami has taken advantage of Kenzan’s current weakness and invaded his possession. She is not in a negotiating frame of mind. The total destruction of Kenzan’s financial position is the most likely outcome.”

      Simulation seven was Sabor’s cheeriest, brightest communications facade. He usually used it when he distributed invitations to informal gatherings.

      Choy forced the three widemounts into a trot—a move that would probably drain any spare energy they still had left in their reservoirs. The two hardbodies started to fall back but they had waited too long. Choy and Purvali edged ahead of Sabor. Their widemounts lowered their heads. Broad skulls shoved against the two hardbodies. Choy and Purvali slid to the ground and leaped like a pair of dancers. They pulled themselves back on their widemounts—they couldn’t have spent more than ten seconds on the ground—and Sabor stared at the two figures writhing in the organic debris that covered the forest floor. Both hardbodies had legs that had acquired an extra joint. Their weapons had been tossed into the trees.

      Sabor’s widemount ripped a mass of leaves and blossoms from the lowest branch of a flowering tree. Sabor could feel its back trembling underneath him. The other widemounts had become as motionless as mounds of dirt.

      Five symbols raced across the map display. Jina’s human staffers had broken cover and initiated their final assault.

      Purvali and Choy jumped off their widemounts. “Use everything you’ve got, Purvali,” Sabor said. “There’s little point in trying to conceal your potential now. But please abide by the rules of engagement. No permanent damage.”

      He crawled onto the back of his widemount and fired half a dozen moles at one of the oncoming hardbodies. Purvali and Choy had dropped into on-guard crouches below him. The hardbodies were veering around trees and sailing over obstacles with a controlled, absolute silence that was a thousand times more unnerving than a chorus of battle cries.

      The hardbodies could have split their forces. Two could have gone after Sabor while the rest tried to keep Choy and Purvali occupied. Sabor could have held off his assailants for a few seconds while his dedicated staff demonstrated their ability to deal with three-to-two odds, and the three of them could then have joined forces and completed a final rout of Colonel Jina’s minions. Instead, the hardbodies clumped into a line as they approached the widemount and the entire group converged on Choy and Purvali. Jina’s tactician had apparently gained some respect for the abilities Sabor’s assistants brought into the arena.

      Purvali’s upper body swayed. She stepped toward an oncoming hardbody and made a small movement to her left. The hardbody twisted to follow her, she made another small movement—and suddenly she was positioned behind the hardbody, with her body leaning backward and the bottom of her foot slamming into his kidney.

      Sabor had seen her make moves like that during training sessions. In actual combat, the spectacle had a power that transcended the excitement evoked by the kind of speed and grace her hyped-up physiology could attain.

      His awe turned into horror within seconds. Purvali hooked her foot around the stunned hardbody’s ankle and pulled him to the ground. She leaped half her height straight up and came down on his back. She kicked downward as she landed and hit him with the maximum impact. It was a lethal blow—an attack that would drive splintered bones into the heart directly under her heel. The shock wave forced through the hardbody’s chest would probably rupture the heart if the puncture wounds didn’t do the job.

      Choy was defending himself against two hardbodies. One of his attackers jumped back and disengaged. Three silent demons turned on Purvali.

      Sabor didn’t need a message from Colonel Jina to advise him the rules had changed. He could see it in the way the three hardbodies held their hands as they closed. Purvali was fast and she was stronger than the curves of her body and the silkiness of her skin indicated. But she couldn’t survive an attack from three purpose-nurtured soldiers who had decided they could remove an obstacle without fretting about the damage they inflicted on it.

      Sabor wedged his gun between a pair of cargo bins. He rose to a crouch and jumped, feet first, on the hardbody who was slipping behind Purvali’s back.

      It was an impulsive act but his body knew what it had to do. His boots slammed into the hardbody’s helmet. His target shied away from him as the blow hit and he threw out his arms and grabbed at anything he could get his hands on.

      His fingers dug into the hardbody’s uniform. His left heel pounded on the hardbody’s foot. It was a weak effort but it did the job. The odds against Purvali were reduced to two to one. It was only a momentary respite but it could be all Purvali needed.

      Unfortunately, the hardbodies immediately realized he had placed their true objective in reach. The hardbody facing Choy abandoned his opponent and danced toward Sabor. The other two hardbodies slipped around Purvali. A hardbody twisted Sabor’s arm behind his back. Three hardbodies formed a wall in front of him.

      Sabor jerked his head toward Choy. “Stop her. Don’t let her attack. They’ll kill her.”

      Choy stepped СКАЧАТЬ