"Scott G. Gier - Genellan 02 - In the Shadow of the Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gier Scott G)

"Dunno, Lieutenant," Chastain said, breaking the silence. "Should've had
Et Silmarn fly us to the plateau."

"They don't want kones on the plateau, Jocko," she said.

Buccari understood the cliff dwellers' fear. As alien to Genellan as were
humans, the kones were at once Buccari's greatest hope and her greatest
apprehension. She had been on the ugly end of powerful konish weapons
too many times.

Captain Two waited at a point where they could safely proceed upriver.
As Buccari hiked past the hunter leader, the wiry creature bowed with
grotesque formality. Buccari returned the honor.




TWO
KONтАФSECOND PLANET FROM THE STAR
┬л^┬╗
The arching vaults of the amphitheater belied the punishing physics of the
gravity-strained planet. From her cubicle on the brazenly cantilevered
mezzanine Kateos studied the proceedings. The Northern Hegemonic
filtering center, directly above the podium, afforded the best view in the
Planetary Defense Force forum. Similar compartments patterned the
perimeter of the amphitheater, all occupied by female linguists monitoring
the activities of the delegates.

"A simple equation," Et Kalass summarized, cottony tufts standing erect
above murky-brown eyes. King Ollant's prime minister wore robes of
dazzling white trimmed in midnight blue. His golden, grainy-skinned image
was magnified on the main holo-vid; auxiliary vids scattered along the walls
replicated the noblekone's ponderous bovine countenance in a kaleidoscope
of movement. "Humans transfer hyperlight technology to us, and we
consent to their settlement. Humans have an outpost for their civilization,
and konish vessels at last travel the stars."

Et Kalass paused. A murmur rippled through the southern delegations.
Kateos studied the activity. In its midst Tar Fell, chancellor of the
Thullol-Ransa Compact, stared upward with inscrutable detachment.
Languorously, the southerner raised a Gargantuan arm from beneath a
shimmering black cloak, revealing a golden lining and the uniform of a
Planetary Defense general officer.

Supreme General Talsali, commander of Planetary Defenses and
presiding officer of the plenary council, recognized his glowering
subordinate. Diffuse laser beamsтАФmagenta, cyan, and amberтАФdanced
across Tar Fell's bulky form. The chancellor-general's stern image, the coarse
features of a commoner, replaced Et Kalass's noble visage on the holo-vid.