"David Drake - Hammer's Slammers 02 - Cross The Stars (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

goggles, but they were pushed high on his forehead. With his lips pursed, Slade was trying to duplicate the notes of
something that had called to him from the undergrowth. The song hung in the Stadtler Field. It was not sound but the
shadow of a memory.
In a second ghost-like moment, Don Slade was making love to one of the members of his work gang, a girl with
bright eyes and skin the color of oak bark. They were all Terzia, all objects tailored to the needs of the planet in a
universe over which humans swarmed with their mechanical responses to questions and their violence toward threats
and toward excessive strangeness. The autochthones were a part of TerziaтАЩs defense system. So were the plants that
produced complex drugs in wild profusion. And so was the тАЬhumanтАЭ mistress of the world; the Terzia, who dealt
with human traders and who controlled the hardware which kept less peaceful wanderers at a distance. The image of
the man astride the alien girl shouted with joy as unexpected muscles clamped. It showed a delight which the merely-
human exoticism of the Terzia had not aroused in him for many months; and which itself had soon palled into
despondency.
The third image which flickered and trailed the others into the neutral background was that of the present
morning, Slade leaping the thrashing carnivore to save a laborer who was not a man. To Terzia, the workman was no
more than a skin cell, a fleck of spittle voided during a charade. To the man putting himself at risk, the victim was
his responsibility . . . and even if someone had told him the truth, he might have reacted with the same furious
determination, because his duty was not a matter over which Don Slade gave power to any other to determine.
The Frisian and the TerziaтАФthe womenтАФwere alone again.
Margritte tongued her upper lip, dry with tension. She said, тАЬYou have to release Don Slade. We order it.тАЭ
тАЬDo you think heтАЩs kept in a cage?тАЭ the Terzia blazed. тАЬHe has everything, luxury, excitementтАФlove, damn you,
love if you will, for a soul like a jewel in the sunshine!тАЭ She paused and added in a whisper, тАЬI am very old, and that
is . . . useful to me.тАЭ
тАЬBring Don Slade here,тАЭ Margritte said. тАЬPut him on line with me. Have him tell me himself that he doesnтАЩt see
the bars.тАЭ
 The Terzia tossed her head as if the wash of her lustrous hair could wipe away the words she was hearing.
Margritte continued inexorably, тАЬOr else let him go, lady. You have no other choice.тАЭ
тАЬDo you think you could take him from me?тАЭ the Terzia demanded. Her voice and bearing were those of the
arrogant queen whose whim made the planet a danger spot for roistering spacers, a world whose profits barely
balanced the harsh justice of its ruler. On the edge of the Stadtler Field flashed gunpits. They were armed with high-
intensity weapons that could rip a ship from orbit or scar the face of a moon.
Margritte PritchardтАЩs eyes were as cold as her smile. тАЬDo you think,тАЭ she said, тАЬthat HammerтАЩs Slammers havenтАЩt
dropped on a hot landing zone before?тАЭ The Stadtler Field went black and red and saffron. Through it all spiked the
blazing cyan of powerguns. Landing craft sprayed the perimeter from their gun tubs as the blunt iridium bows of
tanks slid through cargo doors to hunt in a burning city.
тАЬThat was M Company clearing an LZ on Cronenbourg,тАЭ said MargritteтАЩs voice through the flashing darkness.
тАЬDon Slade was in the lead tank.тАЭ Then she added, тАЬOur panzers will bring him out of here alive, lady. Or they will
sear this world to glass. I swear it, and Colonel Hammer swears it.тАЭ
Tears were a human thing, but the Terzia was almost fully human as the Hell-lit carnage cleared.
тАЬHe doesnтАЩt want to go back to you,тАЭ said the Terzia as her throat cleared. She looked at her fingernails and not
the face of her tormentor. тАЬHe left you. He says he wants to go home.тАЭ
тАЬThen send him home,тАЭ said the woman on Friesland, with a garden unseen outside and an ache in her own heart.
The Terzia looked up again, amber eyes behind long lashes. тАЬThereтАЩs trouble there, you know,тАЭ she said steadily.
тАЬThose who want to kill him.тАЭ
It could have been a lie. Hammer himself had no data beyond the bare bones of the request, and there was no
evident way that the Terzia would be better informed. But it fit, the Lord knew; and Margritte was by no means sure
that either of them could lie to the other on a link as intense as this one.
тАЬThat may be,тАЭ Margritte said at last. тАЬMaybe heтАЩd be better to stay where he is or to come back to Friesland. We
want him, the Colonel wants him. But DonтАЩs an adult. He can make his choices, even if theyтАЩre mistakes.тАЭ
тАЬAll right,тАЭ said the Terzia. Her muscles bunched to raise her from the chair, a motion that would have broken the
contact. She was human enough to scream against fate, but not in front of this messenger, this rival.