[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"Yes, yes. Captain Cruss," she said, pouring all the smoothness she could into
her voice. "Your papers do seem to be in order, and one cannot fault your
chivalry in diverting to investigate a distress call ..."
What distress call? For they'd have had to receive it many light years away,
the way they'd come. Of course they didn't know they'd been followed.
But Cruss was explaining, or trying to, that it had not been a normal distress
call. Sassinak pushed her own thoughts aside to listen. A
homing capsule, intended for the EEC compound ship which had dropped both the
Ryxi colony and the exploration team. It had gone astray, somehow been
damaged, and been found just beyond the orbit of the outermost planet of this
system.
Not bloody likely, Sassinak thought grimly ... it would be like someone in an
aircraft happening to notice a single small bead on the end of the runway as
they landed. Nothing that size could be detected in FTL flight, and it was
more than a little unlikely that they'd come out of FTL on top of it by
accident. She was surprised when Cruss stood up, and deposited the battered
hunk of metal on her desk with insolent precision. So - that was his surprise
- and he had a homing capsule, or part of it. Stripped of its propulsion unit
and power pack, it was hardly recognizable. She refrained from touching it,
noting only that engraved ID numbers were just visible along one pitted side.
She was not convinced of his story, even when he generously offered to let her
extract the capsule's message from his computer, but she had no intention of
arguing with him at this point. She doubted he knew that the
Fleet computers had their own way with such capsules - and could extract more
than a faked message implanted therein. But all that would come out at the
trial. Now she smiled, graciously, and explained her reasons for confining
them all to their ship, but with permission to trade for fresh foodstuffs with
the locals. Cruss surged to his feet with another stale curse, and his
companions followed. Sassinak sat quietly, relaxed:
behind them the two Wefts had shifted to their own form, and clung to the
angle of bulkhead and overhead. The marine escort was poised, hands hovering
over weapons.
"I hope your water supplies are adequate," she said in the same conversational
tone. "The local water is foul-tasting and smells." Cruss actually growled, a
rumble of furious denial that he needed anything, from her or anyone else.
"Very well, then," she went on. "I'm positive you'll wish to continue on your
way as soon as we have received clearance for you. The indigenes will have all
the help we can give them.
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
You may be sure of that." She stood, tapping the wand against her left palm,
to watch them leave. Cruss made a motion toward the capsule, but
Sassinak lowered the wand to forestall him.
"I think that had better remain," she said calmly. "Sector will wish to
examine it - " His eyes shifted angrily. Guilty, she thought. What had they
done to that thing? And where had it been sent? Surely not all the way to
Diplo - - at the sublight speed a capsule traveled, that would take years.
His muscles bunched; Sassinak flicked a finger signal and the Wefts
reassembled themselves beside him. He flinched, his expression shifting from
barely controlled fury and contempt to alarm.
"Good day. Captain," she said easily, despite a mouth suddenly dry as the
crisis passed. Of the others, only Zansa looked longingly toward the pile of
personal documents on her desk - Sassinak avoided her eyes until she'd turned
to leave.
As soon as the door slid shut, Sassinak relaxed back into her chair and turned
it to face the video pickup. Ford quickly hooked their video into her screen,
so that she could see them. Varian looked much better today: a vividly alive
young woman who reminded Sassinak of herself, with those thick dark curls. But
Varian's eyes were a clear gray, today untinged by the pain or stress that had
clouded them the day before. Kai, on the other hand, looked nothing like an
expedition leader. Slumped in
his seat, pale, a padded suit protecting vulnerable skin . . . and his voice,
when he spoke, revealed the strain even this much activity placed on him. He
seemed harried, nervous - in a way more normal than Varian, for someone who'd
been through a mutiny and forty-three years of coldsleep. Plus whatever had
attacked him. She chatted with them, trying to assess Kai's condition and
Varian's wits. Neither of them had any idea what the Thek presence meant,
although Kai told her about the existing cores, found before the mutiny. She
was still digesting that when
Kai turned formal, and asked if she considered her presence to be the relief
of the expeditionary team. "How could it?" she asked, meanwhile wondering why
he'd give her such an opening. Did he want to be removed from command? Did he
distrust his co-leader? Varian seemed as surprised by his question as
Sassinak. Sassinak filled out her quick answer, explaining her understanding
of their entirely legitimate position, and reminding them again of her
willingness to give them any assistance. Varian accepted this happily, but Kai
still seemed constrained. Either he was very sick still, from all that had
happened, or something else was wrong. After she'd turned them over to Ford,
who would take Kai down to sickbay for Mayerd's diagnostic unit to work on, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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"Yes, yes. Captain Cruss," she said, pouring all the smoothness she could into
her voice. "Your papers do seem to be in order, and one cannot fault your
chivalry in diverting to investigate a distress call ..."
What distress call? For they'd have had to receive it many light years away,
the way they'd come. Of course they didn't know they'd been followed.
But Cruss was explaining, or trying to, that it had not been a normal distress
call. Sassinak pushed her own thoughts aside to listen. A
homing capsule, intended for the EEC compound ship which had dropped both the
Ryxi colony and the exploration team. It had gone astray, somehow been
damaged, and been found just beyond the orbit of the outermost planet of this
system.
Not bloody likely, Sassinak thought grimly ... it would be like someone in an
aircraft happening to notice a single small bead on the end of the runway as
they landed. Nothing that size could be detected in FTL flight, and it was
more than a little unlikely that they'd come out of FTL on top of it by
accident. She was surprised when Cruss stood up, and deposited the battered
hunk of metal on her desk with insolent precision. So - that was his surprise
- and he had a homing capsule, or part of it. Stripped of its propulsion unit
and power pack, it was hardly recognizable. She refrained from touching it,
noting only that engraved ID numbers were just visible along one pitted side.
She was not convinced of his story, even when he generously offered to let her
extract the capsule's message from his computer, but she had no intention of
arguing with him at this point. She doubted he knew that the
Fleet computers had their own way with such capsules - and could extract more
than a faked message implanted therein. But all that would come out at the
trial. Now she smiled, graciously, and explained her reasons for confining
them all to their ship, but with permission to trade for fresh foodstuffs with
the locals. Cruss surged to his feet with another stale curse, and his
companions followed. Sassinak sat quietly, relaxed:
behind them the two Wefts had shifted to their own form, and clung to the
angle of bulkhead and overhead. The marine escort was poised, hands hovering
over weapons.
"I hope your water supplies are adequate," she said in the same conversational
tone. "The local water is foul-tasting and smells." Cruss actually growled, a
rumble of furious denial that he needed anything, from her or anyone else.
"Very well, then," she went on. "I'm positive you'll wish to continue on your
way as soon as we have received clearance for you. The indigenes will have all
the help we can give them.
Page 142
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
You may be sure of that." She stood, tapping the wand against her left palm,
to watch them leave. Cruss made a motion toward the capsule, but
Sassinak lowered the wand to forestall him.
"I think that had better remain," she said calmly. "Sector will wish to
examine it - " His eyes shifted angrily. Guilty, she thought. What had they
done to that thing? And where had it been sent? Surely not all the way to
Diplo - - at the sublight speed a capsule traveled, that would take years.
His muscles bunched; Sassinak flicked a finger signal and the Wefts
reassembled themselves beside him. He flinched, his expression shifting from
barely controlled fury and contempt to alarm.
"Good day. Captain," she said easily, despite a mouth suddenly dry as the
crisis passed. Of the others, only Zansa looked longingly toward the pile of
personal documents on her desk - Sassinak avoided her eyes until she'd turned
to leave.
As soon as the door slid shut, Sassinak relaxed back into her chair and turned
it to face the video pickup. Ford quickly hooked their video into her screen,
so that she could see them. Varian looked much better today: a vividly alive
young woman who reminded Sassinak of herself, with those thick dark curls. But
Varian's eyes were a clear gray, today untinged by the pain or stress that had
clouded them the day before. Kai, on the other hand, looked nothing like an
expedition leader. Slumped in
his seat, pale, a padded suit protecting vulnerable skin . . . and his voice,
when he spoke, revealed the strain even this much activity placed on him. He
seemed harried, nervous - in a way more normal than Varian, for someone who'd
been through a mutiny and forty-three years of coldsleep. Plus whatever had
attacked him. She chatted with them, trying to assess Kai's condition and
Varian's wits. Neither of them had any idea what the Thek presence meant,
although Kai told her about the existing cores, found before the mutiny. She
was still digesting that when
Kai turned formal, and asked if she considered her presence to be the relief
of the expeditionary team. "How could it?" she asked, meanwhile wondering why
he'd give her such an opening. Did he want to be removed from command? Did he
distrust his co-leader? Varian seemed as surprised by his question as
Sassinak. Sassinak filled out her quick answer, explaining her understanding
of their entirely legitimate position, and reminding them again of her
willingness to give them any assistance. Varian accepted this happily, but Kai
still seemed constrained. Either he was very sick still, from all that had
happened, or something else was wrong. After she'd turned them over to Ford,
who would take Kai down to sickbay for Mayerd's diagnostic unit to work on, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]