"Glass,.James.C.-.Shanji" - читать интересную книгу автора (Glass James C)

The flyer had made a great circle, and was now north of her,
engine throbbing as the pilot cut back power for the return descent
to the valley. Toregene sat up and pushed on the woven-needle
roof of the spider-trap, raising it a half-meter on silent hinges, and
staking it open on the side overlooking the valley. She got up on
her knees, and looked out in time to see the flyer descending into
the valley to a landing place behind a cluster of pre-fab buildings.
Beyond the buildings stood great earthmovers at the edge of
Tumatsin barley fields, now stubble, with even the gleanings gone
to the Emperor's warehouses.

Two men got out of the bubble-canopied craft, and the orange of
their auras was a good sign the patrol had been routine. The men
entered one of the buildings there, and immediately the
surrounding area was flooded with light from a dozen panels
around the circumference of the encampment. A hundred or more
troopers suddenly strolled there, all heavily armed. Toregene
smiled, for there were no auras to be seen among the many men
who magically appeared with the lights. They were merely
projected images of some sort to give the illusion of a heavily
guarded camp. Even so, Toregene scanned the area carefully,
especially near the earthmovers poised for the destruction of
Tumatsin fields, huge machines with tires the height of two men,
and gleaming blades to level the earth for the Emperor's new living
space.

She found two auras by the earthmovers, a third strolling the area
around the metal buildings, a fourth walking the camp perimeter
just outside of the light panels. Four troopers guarding the entire
camp, at least two more inside the buildings, and how many more?
Four, perhaps eight at most, she guessed. A single squad of
Tumatsin warriors could take the camp and destroy it in a single
night.

The thought frightened her, for Temujin would certainly vie for
leadership of such an attack, and her marriage to him was but a
week away. Her report could endanger the life of her chosen
bahadur before their love could be formally confirmed or
consummated, though they had been together many times.

And for what purpose? Destruction of the earthmovers was at best
a delaying action, and retaliation was certain to follow, as it had
against the tiny valley ordu of Dejmat; a dozen Tumatsin murdered
by laser fire for simply refusing to leave the homes of their
ancestors.

Tengri-Nayon glowed red near the zenith, the home star from which
their ancestors had fled, the distant companion to yellow Tengri-
Khan, which warmed this world of Shanji. The time of closest