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

Wong jerked his attention to the tactical plot. Impossible! There, above
them, in a rapidly descending trajectory, where only minutes before there
had been nothing but empty space, were five ships. Starships! Completing a
local HLA jump with incredulous precision.

"Emergency pitch over!" Ketchie shouted.

"Weapons free. Fire when able!" Wong bellowed. "Clear theтАФ"

Implosion! Blast! Heat and chaos! Wong's last recollection was of Jonson
braced in her tethers at the conning station, hood blown from her head, hard
blue eyes wide with alarm yet jaw set with firm resolve.

And then they were dead. All of them.

The universe was filled with screams.




SECTION ONE
A SIMPLE EQUATION

ONE
GENELLANтАФTHIRD PLANET FROM THE STAR
┬л^┬╗
She was hiking back to where humans had first landed, to Hudson's Plateau,
where Commander Quinn, Rhodes, and Rennault had died, where the entire
crew of Harrier OneтАФher crewтАФwould have died if it had not been for the
cliff dwellers. Buccari owed it to the intelligent creatures to return. The
elders had requested her presence. Unspoken in that summons but
impossible to ignore was the cliff dwellers' desire to see her son.
MacArthur's son. She looked down at the sprawling child, asleep in a chest
harness, a solid counterbalance to her backpack.

It was spring again. The planet was awakeningтАФexpanding, stretching in
the sun-star's marginal warmth. And transformingтАФmelting, eroding,
trembling in the irrepressible cycles of nature. Grimy expanses of crusty
whiteness clung resolutely to north-facing slopes, and the great river, always
powerful, swelled magnificently with snowmelt. The river trail was awash,
but she had to make the arduous hike now. The fleet would soon return,
this time with settlers, with problems. She would have decisions to make.
Too many damn decisions.

Thoughts disjointed by fatigue, pack frame tugging at her shoulders,
Buccari clambered along an escarpment. It was not warm, but exertion had
soaked her T-shirt and stained her leather jerkin. She turned and checked
Lizard Lips; the cliff dweller trudged doggedly behind her. She exhaled,
shifted her load, and plodded forward. Ahead, Chastain had come to