Читать книгу Satan’s Tail - Dale Brown - Страница 18

‘I don’t see the point of you deploying with us, Mack,’ said Dog. ‘There’s not going to be much for you to do.’

‘Piranha’s my project, Colonel. You put me in the slot, right? I have to liaison. Let me liaison.’

‘There’s nothing to liaison with, Mack. You’re needed here.’

‘I’m just twiddling my thumbs here.’

‘You’re supposed to be doing a lot more than twiddling your thumbs.’

‘You know what I mean, Colonel. I want to be where the action is. Hey – I’ll learn to drive the Piranha. We’re short on operators, right?’

‘I’m not going to train you on the fly. We have Delaford and Ensign English. Zen and Starship are already checked out as backups; that gives us four operators. We can do the mission like that for a while.’

‘Is it because of the wheelchair?’ asked Mack.

‘It’s not because of the wheelchair,’ said Dog. ‘But since you bring that up, I think frankly that you would be better served by continuing your rehab here.’

‘Ah, I’m doing fine with it.’

‘All the more reason to keep up with it. If you’ll excuse me, I have some packing to do.’