"Simon R. Green - Deathstalker Prelude 02 - Ghostworld" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

had nothing to do but strain his eyes at the displays. The thick storm clouds hid the
metal trees from sight, but the AI picked them up on the pinnace's sensors and changed
speed and direction accordingly, making decisions and evaluations in spit-second
bursts. Since the AI could think faster and react more quickly than Silence ever could,
even when he was mentally linked to the onboard computers, there was never any
question as to which one of them would get to pilot the pinnace down. But the AI was
programmed to be considerate of people's feelings, so it might let him actually land the
pinnace, if it didn't seem too difficult.
Deepening his concentration, Silence accessed the ship's sensors through his comm
implant. The bulkhead walls before him were suddenly transparent as the sensors
displayed a real-time simulation of what was happening outside the ship. Dark, swollen
storm clouds rushed toward and around the pinnace at heart-stopping speed, and
lightning struck viciously at the craft. Silence winced inwardly, but kept his face calm
so as not to upset his passengers. The storm could rage and spit all it liked; nothing
could harm the ship as long as its force screen was up. Gleaming metal trees appeared
and disappeared in the blink of an eye as the pinnace surged this way and that,
threading a path through the metallic forest to the landing pads by Base Thirteen. The
storm clouds were too thick and too dark for Silence to make out the forest itself, but
his imagination pictured it as an endless, vicious pincushion; solid metal spikes waiting
for him like the sharpened stakes at the bottom of a pit dug to trap animals.
The image disturbed him, and he cut off the display and swung round in his chair to see
how his passengers were doing. A good Captain never neglected his crew. Supposedly,
loyalty was programmed into them these days, but it never hurt to be careful.

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Simon R. Green- Deathstalker Prelude 02 - Ghostworld


The ship's young esper, Diana Vertue, was looking distinctly green about the gills from
being tossed around by the pinnace's sudden changes in direction. Investigator Frost sat
beside her, cool and composed as always, her face almost bored. The two marines,
Stasiak and Ripper, sat behind the two women, passing a gunmetal flask back and forth
between them. Silence's mouth tautened. He hoped it was just alcohol, and not some
new battle drug they'd cooked up in the medlabs. Officially he was supposed to
encourage such initiative, but Silence didn't believe in chemical courage. He preferred
the real thing whenever possible. Chemicals wore off.
"We'll be touching down soon," he said evenly. "There shouldn't be any immediate
danger, but keep your eyes and ears open anyway. Due to the urgent nature of the
situation, we're going in pretty much blind on this one. The mission's simple enough.
Base Thirteen isn't answering any calls. Our job is to find out why."
"Question, Captain?"
"Yes, esper Vertue?"
"According to the computers, Unseeli is a dead world. Nothing's lived here since all
indigenous species were wiped out after the Ashrai rebellion, ten years ago. . . ."
"That's right," said Silence as the esper paused.
"But if that's the case, Captain, if there's nothing on this planet that could be harmful,
why all the panic? It could just be a case of cabin fever. It's not exactly unknown, out
here on the edge of the Empire."
"A good point, esper. But four days ago, Base Thirteen declared a Red Alert
emergency, raised a force screen round the Base, and cut off all communications with