"Lee Killough - Deadly Silents" - читать интересную книгу автора (Killough Lee)

forces to wait their turn through D'shenegar's shuttlebox
with a load of computer components, ski equipment, and
bicycles.

"Does it look like home to you, though?" Ten asked.

Roban's dusky face Kghted up. "Yes, as a matter of
fact" In the process of exchanging personal histories in
Switchpoint, he had told them he was brought up on sto-
ries of Egar told by his grandfather, who was born in Lu-
shanah when Roban's great-grandparents were there as
members of the Terran trade delegation.

Pol cocked a brow. "Well, homeboy, would y'all do me
a favor, then? I know they all look alike to me now, but
isn't there really a way to tell the men from the women
here?"

Roban grinned, shaking bis head. "My grandfather
swears not . . . unless a female is pregnant or nursing, or
a male feels"тАФhe extended his thumb, pointing it skywardтАФ
"like loving. Don't worry about it Iregara themselves ig-
nore gender most of the time."

They walked on through the travelport. with Ten finding
delight in every new object and scent Of course, once he
and Pol knew about Roban's grandfather they had plied
the Afro with questions about Egar, but nothing he told
them in any way diminished the child's sense of wonder
Ten felt now. He was glad he bad not let his partner Avel
Siem talk him out of coming. She might recoil from living
on an alien world, but with each passing moment. Ten
looked forward to it more.

At the entrance, they hurried outside, eager for a look at
the city, but to (heir disappointment saw no sign of it In-
stead, they appeared to be in the wilds. The only habitation
visible was a couple of building complexes on the eastern
side of the valley where the travelport lay and another
small complex on the rim of hills to the south.

"That should be lion country," Pol said. "The travel in-

DEADLY S1LENTS 3

structions said the stationhouse is three klicks south of the
travelport."

Ten eyed the distant building. "Shall we hike or take the
.monorail?" Three kilometers was not far; he ran a longer