[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
to learn from normal pictures, run yourself a VR sim. The first time you meet
a real alien in the flesh, I don't want my partner gibbering,'Mercy me, look
at the size of that thing!' "
Benjamin mumbled something I couldn't make out. If Tobit had belonged to any
other branch of the navy, he'd yell, "What was that, mister?" then shout in
the boy's face for ten minutes about subordinates keeping their mouths to
themselves. But Explorers hated acting authoritarian, especially if it meant
browbeating their partners. Instead, Tobit turned to me. "What's with the
defense clouds around the venom sacs?"
"Oh those. Um." I dropped my gaze. "The ship had uninvited nanites show up a
few days ago..."
"What?" Tobit snapped. "No one toldus about nanites."
"The folks at Starbase Iris never let me get that far," I answered. "As soon
as I reported the whole crew dying, they just stopped talking to me. When I
tried to tell them other stuff, they cut me off sharp."
"Bloody hell. Those morons at Iris have their heads up their candy-coated
asses." Tobit took a deep breath. "All right, York, we're listening now. Tell
us everything. The truth, not what you think we want to hear."
So I went through the story, right from the start which shocked young
Benjamin, let me tell you. He couldn't believe the kind of partyWillow held
for crossing the line. Tobit told him not to be naive. "Just goes to show," he
said, "the crew knew they'd pissed off the League. They were all in on it,
they were all guilty... and they were all whacked out with fear as they came
Page 25
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
up to crossing the line. In a way, you have to admire these bastards; most
Vacheads would just sit around moaning if they knew they were going to die. At
least this group had the good taste to hold an orgy." He sighed, then glanced
at me. "I don't suppose you know what gruesome deed they'd done?"
I shook my head. "No one told me anything."
"You were just a passenger. Getting rotated back to New Earth, right?"
"Right. I was stationed on the moonbase near Troyen, but it was getting too
dangerous to stay. You know Troyen's having a big civil war? Most of the time
they just fight among themselves, but a few weeks ago someone took a potshot
at us a missile came close to landing on top of our station. The blast
disrupted our outer dome field and nearly knocked down the inner one... so our
base commander decided we had to evacuate. The other personnel got away in a
two-person scoutship, but I was assigned to stay behind till everything shut
down properly."
"They left you on your own?" Benjamin said. "While Mandasars were shooting
missiles at your base?"
"There was only the one missile," I told him, "and I volunteered to stay.
Somebody had to make sure the computers finished locking everything down.
Anyway,Willow came to get me, so it was all right."
Tobit asked, "When didWillow show up in the Troyen system?"
"Right after the others left in the scoutship.Willow's name just appeared on
the base's list of in-system ships. They hung around for five days, then
picked me up to go home."
"Sounds like they were on a secret mission," Benjamin said with sudden
interest. "The way they didn't come out till everyone else had gone. Orbiting
the planet five days even when they might get shot at. Not telling you what
they were up to..."
"Of course, they were on a secret mission, toad-breath!" Tobit rolled his
eyes. "For one thing, they were ferrying this queen from Troyen to Celestia...
which was probably what got the poor buggers killed. The League takes a dim
view of folks transporting dangerous non-sentients from one star system to
another. And I'll lay you good odds this queen qualified as non-sentient ready
and willing to commit murder. You said Troyen's been at war for twenty years?"
I nodded.
"Well then," Tobit went on, "she'd have her own army, wouldn't she?" He
patted the queen's chitinous flank. "How long d'you think this old gal could
play warlord and still keep her mandibles clean... never taking a single wee
life except in direct self-defense?" He snorted. "When I studied hive-queens
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]