"Janet Kagan - Mirabile" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kagan Janet)

said.


If IтАЩd thought that was the end of it, IтАЩd thought wrong.
Aklilu crawled out from under the covers and bounced once on
the edge of the bed. тАЬNow tell me another story, Mama Jason,тАЭ
he said.
 тАЬAnother? You want another?тАЭ I gave a sidelong glance at Elly
.
тАЬAnother!тАЭ shouted Aklilu. тАЬAnother!тАЭ The bed squealed in
time as his bounce got insistent. тАЬCome on, Nikolai,тАЭ he coaxed.
тАЬYou ask her, too!тАЭ
Good thing all the furniture at Loch Moose Lodge is childproof
or there wouldnтАЩt be any. Of course, if he managed to get Nikolai
to join in, thereтАЩd be nothing left of anything.
Nikolai looked from me to Elly, then laughed and swept Aklilu
into his lap. тАЬSettle down, kiddo,тАЭ he said. тАЬI want to hear
another story.тАЭ
тАЬGo ahead, Annie,тАЭ Elly said. тАЬI know the symptoms.тАЭ
And I know when IтАЩm licked. тАЬBack under the covers with
you,тАЭ I told Aklilu and, to my surprise, he burrowed back into bed
on the spot. тАЬWhich one?тАЭ
тАЬYou pick,тАЭ Nikolai said to Aklilu.
Aklilu just grinned and cocked his head at me. тАЬYou know,
Mama Jason.тАжтАЭ
тАЬYeah,тАЭ I said, grinning back. тАЬSame one you always want to
hear. But, since Nikolai hasnтАЩt heard it, I guess I could stand to
tell it one more time.тАЭ


The Return of the Kangaroo Rex
┬л^┬╗
IтАЩd been staring at the monitor so long all the genes were beginning to look alike to
me. They shouldnтАЩt have, of courseтАФthis gene-read was native Mirabilan, so it was
a whole new kettle of fish.
ThatтАЩs an American Guild expression, but itтАЩs the right one. At a casual look, had
the critter been Earth-based, weтАЩd have classed it as fish and left it at that. The
problem was that it had taken a liking to our rice crop, and, if we didnтАЩt do
something quick, nobody on MirabileтАЩd see a chow fun noodle ever again. So I went
back to staring, trying to force those genes into patterns the team and I could cope
with.
Moving the rice fields didnтАЩt guarantee weтАЩd find a place free of them. In the first
place, it encysted in dry ground, meaning you never knew where itтАЩd pop up until
you flooded the area. In the second place, it could leap like a salmon from the first
place to the second place. It had already demonstrated its ability to spread from one
field to the next. Susan had measured a twelve-foot leap.
The prospect got dimmer when Chie-Hoon caught them making that same leap
from dry ground. Their limit was some five or six leaps until they hit water again, but
that gave them quite a range.
It was as pretty a piece of native bioengineering as IтАЩve seen, one I could