"Arinn Dembo - Between the Lines" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dembo Arinn)

II.
Galen Navarek is an exceptionally gifted student; his talents as an esper always score off the charts. Even
with minimal training he shows a profound and detailed clairvoyance, an uncanny grasp of spatial
relations, unusual empathic skills as both a transmitter and a receiver, and a powerful coercive ability. His
instructors say that he could excel as a pilot or a special interrogator.

Rather than devoting himself seriously to his studies, however, the boy distinguishes himself in the early
days of his career at Mars Dome by a series of desertion attempts, which grow increasingly daring and
ingenious as the years pass. Despite punishments which range from solitary confinement to lashing, his
determination to escape never wavers-until his final run, at the age of twelve.

During the week of the midterm exams, Navarek coerces a pair of guards to open the doors of the upper
classmenтАЩs armory. After clumsily wiping the memories of both men, he steals a slicksuit and seals himself
into an outbound weapons container. Loaded into a cargo ship headed for the outer colonies, Galen
survives for several days in the thin, sub-zero atmosphere of the hold, using the meditation techniques he
has been taught to sustain himself on a minute supply of oxygen and water.

He makes it as far as Port Europa before being caught. After a struggle with three military police, leaving
one woman in critical condition, the boy is subdued and returned to Mars in a drug-induced coma.

The academyтАЩs esper commander, Captain Spake, is less than amused by NavarekтАЩs steady refusal to
accept his commission. A list of the boyтАЩs known associates turns up only a handful of names: the lab
partner in a class on organic chemistry, the three bunkmates who share his berth, and a
non-commissioned officer who gives special instruction in zero-gee combat. All five are deemed
non-essential personnel; when young Navarek is brought before Spake, aboard the CaptainтАЩs personal
cruiser in Mars orbit, the twelve-year-old is made to watch while his тАЬfriendsтАЭ are spaced one by one.

The Captain assures him that any further insubordination will result in a similar fate for Sasha and Mariid
Navarek, who are still alive and well at the Epsilon colony.

For several years thereafter, Galen pursues his education at Mars Dome with grim determination, passing
several times as the head of his age division. Over the years, many of his fellow students have become
introverted and inclined to isolate themselves. Given their special sensitivity, few of them feel the need to
communicate with the spoken word; generally their thoughts and feelings are conveyed with quick
telepathic shorthand.

Even among espers, however, GalenтАЩs shyness is remarkable. He has been known to go for weeks or
months at a time without uttering a sound-even when injured. He avoids even empathic contact, shielding
himself from shared jokes and mental intimacy.

The only crack in his infamous reserve is seen on his twenty-first birthday, when a tragic rip-drive
accident interrupts the annual Martian Air Review. The AFSFletcher is lost with all hands, tearing a
spectacular hole in the violet sky over Mons Olympus with a bizarre misfire of its Jump engine. Flaming
debris rains down on the crowd below; most notably, half of the corvetteтАЩs molten hull drops onto the
viewing platform for visiting dignitaries. Several high-ranking officers are lost, including Rear Admiral
Spake.

At the eveningтАЩs mess, the chaplain requests a moment of silence for the departed. Second Lieutenant
Navarek is officially reprimanded later for muttering, in the ensuing quiet, тАЬWish I could have seen his
face.тАЭ