"Alexander Jablokov - Deep Drive" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jablokov Alexander)

The teams climbed out of their landing craft. The air at this altitude was thin but breathable. The airfoils
hissed just like eroding orbital dust, as if death, an amateur poet, required an exact rhyme. The sea was
an indigo pool, too far below to show any texture.

They faced a serious problem. Instead of three landing craft slid cozily into mushy growth under the flying
bio-package, there were only two. The biopackage dirigible tilted perilously from the uneven weight.

"Are you sure she didn't make it?" Kammer paced the tilting floor. Pollinating beetles, escapees from their
delivery modules, scuttled away from under her silver-trimmed assault boots.

"Positive." Kun stood absolutely still.

Behind him, half-sunk into the soft tissue, was the ship he and Soph had come down in. Reentry had
scorched and puckered the shielding. The crystal hull shone from the bottom of dark holes. Beyond that
was the second vessel, a converted water tug. Neither vessel retained enough ablative shielding to get
back out through the dust cloud, Soph thought.

The rest of the team ignored the argument between their leaders and checked their gear with superstitious
thoroughness.

"She might have veered off, realizing that the path was wrong. Mura's smart, Kun. That's why we hired
her. She could still slide in and make the contingency rendezvous."

"She's a meteor." Kun seemed to think that if he moved so much as an eyebrow, it would mark him as
untrustworthy. ' 'I tracked her. Once the shielding burned through, the ship
DEEPDRIVE 9

didn't last a split second. It's gone, Kammer. A third of our team is gone."

"Dammit!"

Tall and long-necked, Kammer wore her golden hair in looped braids behind her head. In her reflective
vest and hip-hugging insulated pants, hung with spiky combo climbing/ fighting gear, she looked ready for
a party, rather than an assault on a prison fortress holding an alien intelligence.

Too bad there was no party to go to.

"We'll have to change our plans," Soph said quietly.

Kammer tilted her head back to look down at Soph over her nose, a favorite gesture. "Your job doesn't
start until we hit the surface."

"That's what I mean. That ship carried most of our all-terrain vehicles. We can't haul our gear up to Ripi's
covert from the airhead without them. If we land as planned, I won't be able to do my job."

"Isn't it a little early to start covering your ass, Ms. Trost?"

Soph controlled her temper. She'd argued about putting all the ATVs in one landing craft, but she'd been
overruled. On fairly reasonable grounds, she had to admit: neither of the other two craft would have been