دانلود رمان انگلیسی “86” – جلد 10

There was no fear. The first time he stood on the field of battle, he did not feel even the slightest twinge of terror. Not from the intense roaring of the cannons tearing through the air. Not from the imposing form of the Löwe—that fifty-tonne, polypedal drone tank. Not from the scent of molten metal creeping into his cockpit or the constant tremors of his unit’s cruising systems rumbling all the way to the pit of his stomach. Not from the ever-present, incessant wailings. Not from the sight of a nearby consort unit being blasted in the flank by an armor-piercing round as soon as it encountered an enemy and getting reduced to a mess of aluminum alloy, blood, and viscera. That was his closest friend from the training facility. Their training had lasted less than a month, but in that time, the cheerful timbre of their voice and their bright smile left a lasting impression on his mind. It had only taken a second. The Löwe’s APFSDS projectile moved with an initial velocity of 1,650 meters per second. It had hit its target before the roar of the cannon reached their ears. The acceleration propelling the depleted-uranium projectile granted it intense weight and explosive energy, and it penetrated the Juggernaut’s feeble armor effortlessly. The frail human body inside it was torn apart with almost comical ease. They likely died instantly. Before they could even fathom what had happened. At the time, he couldn’t tell if that was a comfort or not. Maybe it was the color of the crackling flames or the scent of scorched blood. Perhaps it was the smell of roasting skin wafting across the battlefield. Whichever it was, it had flipped a switch in his mind. A switch he’d never known existed, that he could never have been aware of during his short, peaceful life up until then. The switch of his combat instincts. He could feel the enemy’s sights shift. He could tell, somehow, that the Löwe’s internal automatic reloading mechanism had finished readying its next shell. By the time the barrel started rotating a moment later, he’d already pulled back the control sticks and begun moving his unit in an evasive trajectory.