"Jeff Kirvin - Unification Chronicles 1 - First Contact I" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kirvin Jeff)

and one in the southern. The screen reacted to his touch by showing bright red circles around
the locations he specified and humming softly as each circle pulsed.
 тАЬI think we should concentrate here,тАЭ he said. тАЬAll three sites offer a good mix of terrain
and climate. They should give us a nice overview of what this planet has to offer.тАЭ

Jack leaned against the viewscreen as he talked. Robyn thought it looked like he was about
to fall out into space. She didnтАЩt know why, but the image frightened her. She shook it off. She
was a Marine. She wasnтАЩt afraid of anything. тАЬWhat are the opspecs?тАЭ she asked, focusing on
the view of the planet itself.

тАЬWeтАЩll go down in full armor, and breathe on suit air until weтАЩre sure there are no
pathogens in the atmosphere. I want a full dispersal, full sensor sweep. This is going to be a
nature hike on an alien world, and we need to treat it with the requisite caution.тАЭ

Robyn nodded. тАЬYes, sir.тАЭ

Jack walked towards the door. тАЬRound up the troops and meet me in the drop bay in
fifteen minutes, Lieutenant. I want to get off this giant golf ball before Chenzokov changes his
mind.тАЭ

The door closed behind Jack, and Robyn looked back at the screen. Something about that
planet unsettled her, but sheтАЩd be damned if she could figure out what it was.


* * *


Jack walked into his quarters, a room two by three meters square. It held a cot, a locker and
not much else. Part of the wall above the locker was a viewscreen capable of displaying
anything he wanted, but Jack left it blank. He didnтАЩt have time for entertainment vids, and
landscapes or other scenery were just fluff.

The one thing in the room Jack cared about was a small steel pendant on a stand above his
locker. He walked over and held it, enjoying the feel of the rough-carved steel. The pendant
had cost him almost nothing when he got it from a street vendor in New Chicago. It was the
shape of the Tai Chi Tu, the Chinese Yin and Yang symbol. Besides being the symbol of the
Terran Republic, it was a religious symbol to Jack. Or at least, he tried to make it one.

Jack tried to be a Taoist. The ancient Chinese philosophy stressed tolerance, going with the
flow, relaxing and letting events unfold at their own pace. The problem was that he was a
classic тАЬType AтАЭ personality and just letting things happen wasnтАЩt in his blood.

He was the last in a line of military men dating back to the American Civil War. In all that
time, he was the first officer, and he was proud of that. But in the two centuries of a unified
world government since the Angelic Jihad, the role of a soldier had changed.

Earth had been at peace for over 150 years, and even the French Separatist Movement of
2029 was settled without undue bloodshed. Most citizens didnтАЩt feel the need for a standing
military, and Jack had taken his share of being called тАЬwarmongerтАЭ and тАЬkiller.тАЭ Chenzokov
was vocal about the need, or lack of need, for a security force on board Envoy, and the Marines