"David Drake - Fallen Angels" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

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FALLEN ANGELS

David Drake




CHAPTER ONE



"Aspiring to Be Gods . . ."



High over the northern hemisphere the scoopship's hull began to sing. The cabin was a sounding box for
vibrations far below the threshold of hearing. Alex MacLeod could feel his bones singing in sympathy.



Piranha was kissing high atmosphere.



Planet Earth was shrouded in pearl white. There was no break anywhere. There were mountain ranges
of fluff, looming cliffs, vast plains that stretched to a far distant convex horizon, a cloud cover that looked
firm enough to walk on. An illusion; a geography of vapors as insubstantial as the dreams of youth. If he
were to set foot upon them . . . The clouds did not float in free fall, as was proper, but in an acceleration
frame that could hurl the scoopship headlong into an enormous ball of rock and iron and smash it like any
dream.



Falling, they called it.



Alex felt the melancholy stealing over him again. Nostalgia? For that germ-infested ball of mud? Not
possible. He could barely remember Earth. Snapshots from childhood; a chaotic montage of memories.
He had fallen down the cellar steps once in a childhood home he scarcely recalled. Tumbling, arms
flailing, head thumping hard against the concrete floor. He hadn't been hurt; not really. He'd been too
small to mass up enough kinetic energy. But he recalled the terror vividly. Now he was a lot bigger, and
he would fall a lot farther.