"Brian Herbert - Prisoners of Arionn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

PRISONERS OF ARIONN by Brian Herbert.



ONE
PHASE 3.01: Using Qalbeams we sliced the planetary crust horizon-tally without disturbing any of the
inhabitants living above, risdo-bracing the narrow gap as it formed. This slice extended beneath a portion of
the Pacific Ocean along the continental shelf. When we had an adequate cut, pleosaturafe (formed with native
materials) was forced in, forming a perfectly round base for the eventual space habitat.
PHASE 3.02: We bathed the surface of the affected region in dense, signal-obstructing fog of the Opommi
variety.
PHASE 3.03: Following the perimeter of this subsurface base, vertical crust cuts were thrust upward (with
bracing and pleosaturate) to the lower limits of the planet's ecosphere. Penetrated bodies of water (including
the ocean) received flow, wave, and eco-continuance mechanisms on the habitat so that in relocation these
water systems would operate somewhat as they did on Earth.
PHASE 3.04: Hovering in the ionosphere above the center of the project at Oakland, California, we extruded a
tough, lightweight pleodome, bonding this with the base. Our ship, sealed in the dome apex, became the
center of habitat weather control, with seventy-
eight robots remaining aboard. The project was now ready for propulsion into space.
тАФArionnese Student Team Report
rachel's mother-in-law was the noted San Francisco coun-cil woman, Granmere Liliane Fouquet. These women detested
one another, and Rachel sometimes spoke of introducing dust into the meticulous old woman's modular house to
sprinkle about "in dark corners and crannies where it might breed." Rachel's imagination conceived a special variety of
dust for her bete noire, one that would drive her mad with its sticki-ness and proliferation.
Recalling this incident, eleven-year-old Michelle Fouquet sat primly on the clear plastic cover that protected
Granmere's green brocade French provincial couch. Glancing sidelong, Michelle saw her mother, Rachel, sitting in
semi-drunken erectness in a wrinkled brown dress, her back arched to exaggeration, on the opposite end of the same
piece. Rachel's left hand held a long, lipstick-smeared cigarette aloft, and the elbow of that arm was supported on the
upturned palm of her right hand. It almost caricatured the parlor manners of Granmere's beau monde friends, but
Michelle thought it unintentional.
Michelle perceived in her mother a certain tattered and sodden regality. Every few moments Rachel moved the
ciga-rette to her mouth and worked at it, glaring all the while into the kitchen that was straight ahead of her, where
Granmere busied herself preparing Sunday dinner. Michelle smelled the delicious aroma of roast lamb.
At the edge of her awareness, Michelle heard children's voices (those of her younger brother, Renney, and toddler
sister, Coley) coming from the arch-doored music room, interspersed with the deeper tones of her father, Henry, and of
his father, Michelle's beloved Granpere Gilbert. Michelle wished Dad hadn't forced Mom to come, for there would be
the inevitable quarreling between Mom and Granmere. Then Michelle would feel sick to her stomach, longing for an
end to the bickering and viciousness. Already she felt a little
queasyтАФa slight rolling emptiness as if her innards were tumbling upon themselves. She noted numbness at the
tem-ples too, and near dizziness. These sensations passed.
The chairs in the living room matched the couch, and were also plastic-encased. Plastic strips with curled-up edges ran
along the carpet as well, protecting the most traveled areas. The sidetables were dark-stained cherrywood, with
curved, hand-scrolled legs. Dainty porcelain lamps sat atop them, touched by cool November sunlight that slanted
into the room.
Mounted on each wall were heavy fabric straps in green and white petite fleur designs, arranged for the heights of
children and adults. These were to be held when "riding the rooms." Of typical modular design, the room arrangements
could be altered at will, using a hand-held transmitter that activated a flowing system of changeable windows, walls,
floors, doorways, and staircases (the furnishings and other personal belongings being floor-, wall-, table-, or
countertop-secured beforehand).
Granmere and Granpere were constantly hiding the trans-mitter from one another, for Granpere loved to shift things