"Keith Fenwick - Skid 02 - Skid 2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fenwick Keith)

Normally Raele was excited by the final approach to Skid, this time he
was filled with dread. Raele flipped on the viewing screen, picked out Skid
from the cluster of other planets and watched as it steadily filled the
screen.
Soon Raele could pick out familiar landmarks, the continents, the
clusters of light that marked the cities of Skid and the salty seas. As the
patrol craft got closer to Skid he noticed that several things looked
different from his previous trips home.
For one the atmosphere seemed murky, as if a haze covered the entire
planet.
There was no sign of any other patrol craft or the swarm of freighters
that normally orbited the planet waiting to join the landing queues at the
spaceport that normally bustled with activity. Usually hundreds of craft would
be jostling for landing positions or departing for all parts of the known
universe.
Raele tried the communication's channel again but it remained silent,
hissing at him as if the channel had been accidentally left open on another
craft.
Surely there must be someone down there he thought frantically, wondering
what he was going to do if there wasn't.
 Passing the darkened side of Skid above where Ndgar should be the haze
was thickest. It seemed to billow towards the patrol craft and glowed, as if
untold lights burned below.
Then they were past Ndgar and headed across the salty water to Sientuoc.
What was going on? Raele wondered, truly afraid now. For a moment he
seriously considered turning the patrol craft around and heading back into
space.
"What is happening down there?" A voice articulated Raele's own thoughts.
Raele turned and found Amatm, one of the sociologists peering into the
screen and trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes simultaneously.
"I don't really know," Raele replied, temporarily forgetting that he was
supposed to pretend to know everything even if he didn't.
Amatm shrugged and walked across to the food dispenser. He wasn't looking
forward to returning to Skid and leaving the luxury aboard the patrol craft.
Back too unheard of restrictions on the use of agbar. Strict controls over the
dispensing of food and all the other unheard of restrictions that were being
placed on everyday Skidian life before they had left on their mission.
Amatm snatched a furtive glance at Raele. He saw Raele still staring at
the screen so stuffed his pouch and pockets with agbar before turning to eat
from the bowl that had filled under the dispenser.
He casually strolled back to where Raele stood and took another look at
the screen. This was the end of his first trip into space so he didn't know
what was usual and what wasn't but he saw the haze and remarked casually:
"Looks as if the planet
Once they landed Raele carefully peered through the hatch which
automatically flopped open. There was nothing remarkable in the few patrol
craft lined up neatly beside his own or in the service crew that was hurrying
over to them.
There was the hint of a foreign smell in the air though, one that Raele
couldn't identify, like the flesh that the offworlder used to prepare for