129192.fb2 Unite and Conquer - читать онлайн бесплатно полную версию книги . Страница 70

Unite and Conquer - читать онлайн бесплатно полную версию книги . Страница 70

"Systems?"

"I am electrical in nature, as are meat machines. If lightning should strike my present form, it could melt my circuits."

"Circuits?"

"I cannot remain here where I am the tallest object for miles around."

"Circuits?" Lujan repeated. "But jou are a god."

"I am a survival android."

"Jou are Coatlicue."

"I am in danger," Coatlicue said as all around them the adherents of High Priest Rodrigo Lujan and his Mother Goddess Coatlicue scattered for cover.

For the thunder was drawing closer, and bolts of lightning lashed the horizon in all directions. It was as if a storm had surrounded Oaxaca and was pressing in for the kill.

And deep in the pit of his stomach, Rodrigo Lujan knew a dim and growing fear.

The rumbles of thunder came more often. As he listened, Lujan noticed the intervals between the peals of thunder and the crash of the striking bolts came closer together. The echoes would no sooner finish bouncing off the mountain than lightning forked and more thunder crashed angrily.

Coatlicue herself gave voice to the fear rising in his mind. "The lightning approaches this place."

"Send it away, Coatlicue."

"I have no such ability."

"But you are a god."

"I am a survival android whose assimilation program is damaged. I cannot assume a more mobile shape. In my attempt to perpetuate my existence, I have taken on a greater and greater mass of surrounding matter, so as to protect my central processor from damage."

"Central processor?" Lujan said dully. The rain sounds filled his ears. Bitter black rain ran down into his eyes, half blinding him. The cloudburst drummed against his skin like cold awakening fingers.

"I am the tallest form for miles around, " Coatlicue was saying. "I will attract the lightning bolts and I am not grounded against lightning. "

"Lightning cannot harm you."

"Lightning is capable of disrupting my damaged circuits. I could be annihilated."

"Annihilated? It is impossible."

"I have never faced this situation before. Instruct me. I must survive."

"Yes, I will instruct you. Let me think. Yes, what has my mother told true? When there is a lightning system, one lies down flat upon the ground."

"I am unable to perform that function. My present form is not equipped with knees or other folding joints. If I become prone, I will be unable to rise again. "

"Then jou must seek cover."

"I am sixty meters in height. There is no cover."

"When I was small, I would hide under a tree when it rained this fiercely," Lujan said.

"I see no tree taller that my present form."

"El drbol del Tule!"

"Explain. "

"There is a magnificent tree only a mile or three from here. A cypress, heavy with age, for it is said to be two thousand years old. The tourists flock to see it always. Go there. Stand beneath its Zapotec branches. It will protect you, if protection is necessary."

Picking up one gargantuan foot, Coatlicue slowly and ponderously reoriented herself toward the southeast as black rain sluiced down her armored hide. She was slow and deliberate, and her slowness suddenly filled Rodrigo Lujan with a cold dread.

For if Coatlicue feared the lightning, then it was truly something to be feared. And the circle of the horizon was ablaze with devilish pitchforks of electricity.

"I will lead the way, Coatlicue," said Lujan, who dared not voice the selfish thought rising in the back of his mind.

If he remained in the shadow of his Mother, any angry bolt that sought him would be drawn to Coatlicue herself. If by some black fate she should succumb, it would be a terrible tragedy, of course. But Rodrigo Lujan would carry on.

For what was a god without priests to guide the faithful?

Chapter 47

The Mexican army utility chopper was sluggish. Winston Smith had to skim just above treetop level to make the flight to Oaxaca. But that was good, too. Too high made him subject to a sudden shootdown.

The green hills and valleys of Mexico rushed beneath them. The Plexiglas bubble swam with a streaky dark rain.

"Hope we can recognize Verapaz from the air," he muttered.

"He moves with a mighty army. How can we not?"

"Good point."

Assumpta looked over pensively. "Why did you leave those two behind? I still do not understand."

Smith frowned. He had dodged the question once already. "Okay, you deserve to know the absolute truth."

"Yes?"

"They were CIA killer agents."

Assumpta's mouth became an oval. "Even the old one?"

"He was the deadliest of them all. Knows super kung fu."

"They did behave strangely at times."

"You saw how they treated me. Like a kid. Me, the wild-haired warrior. Nobody treats the Extinguisher like a chump."