"Brin, David - Uplift 05 - Infinity's Shore" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brin David)

Sfreahers

[Five Jaduras Earlier]

aa

* What strange fate brought me,

* Fleeing maelstroms of winter,

* Past five galaxies? *

* Only to find refuge,

* On a forlorn planet (nude!)

* In laminar luxury! *

SO HE THOUGHT WHILE PERFORMING SWOOPING
rolls, propelling his sleek gray body with exhilarated tail
strokes, reveling in the caress of water against naked
flesh.

Dappled sunlight threw luminous shafts through crystal
shallows, slanting past mats of floating sea florets. Silvery
native creatures, resembling flat-jawed fish, moved in and

2 0 a v j d B r i n

out of the bright zones, enticing his eye. Kaa squelched the
instinctive urge to give chase.
Maybe later.

For now, he indulged in the liquid texture of water slid-
ing around him, without the greasiness that used to cling
so, back in the oily seas of Oakka, the green-green world,
where soaplike bubbles would erupt from his blowhole
each time he surfaced to breathe. Not that it was worth the
effort to inhale on Oakka. There wasn't enough good air
on that horrid ball to nourish a comatose otter.

This sea also tasted good, not harsh like Kithrup, where
each excursion outside the ship would give you a toxic
dose of hard metals.

In contrast, the water onJijo world felt clean, with a salty
tang reminding Kaa of the gulf stream flowing past the
Florida Academy, during happier days on far-off Earth.

He tried to squint and pretend he was back home, chas-