"Edward M. Lerner - Moonstruck" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lerner Edward M)
would be struck blind if it looked so close to the moon. "To no one's great surprise, it doesn't look like
anything we've ever seen. Or ever built. The way that it simply appeared suggests teleportation or
subspace tunneling or some other mode of travel whose underlying physics we can't begin to
understand."
"What else?"
"You've seen the broadcasts, obviously." At Britt's shrug, Kyle continued. "That's a pretty alien-looking
alien. Also, White Sands, Wallops, Jodrell Bank, and Arecibo all confirm direct receipt from the moon
of the signal that keeps preempting network broadcasts. Overriding network satellite feed, to be precise.
"So far, that's it. I suspect we'll know a lot more soon."
"Commercial," called one of the exiles.
At the burst of typing that announced redirection of the signal, everyone turned forward to the projection
screen. A famous pitchman vanished from the display almost so quickly as to be subliminal (it was
enough to make Kyle think of Jell-O), to be replaced with the increasingly familiar visage of the
Galactic spokesman. No one could read the expression on the alien's face, not that anyone knew that the
aliens provided such visual cues, but Kyle found himself liking the creature. What wonderful wit and
whimsy to present their announcements only during the commercial breaks.
"Greetings to the people of Earth," began his(?) message. "I am H'ffl. As the ambassador of the Galactic
Commonwealth to your planet, the beautiful world of which we were made aware by your many radio
transmissions, I am pleased to announce the arrival of our embassy expedition. We come in peace and
fellowship."
Kyle studied the alien's image as familiar words repeated. The creature was vaguely centaurian in
appearance: six-limbed, with four legs and two arms; one-headed; bilaterally symmetric.
Any resemblance to humans or horses stopped there. His skin was lizardlike: faintly greenish, hairless,
and scaled. The legs ended in three-sectioned hooves; the arms in three-fingered claws better suited to
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- Chapter 1
bifurcated, with both halves prehensileтАФappeared to provide counterbalance to the elongated torso. The
head had four pairs of eyes, with a vertical pair set every ninety degrees for 360-degree stereoscopic
vision. A motionless mouth and three vertically colinear nostrils appeared directly in the torso. The best
guess was that H'ffl both spoke and heard through tympanic membranes atop the head.
"Our starship has assumed orbit around your moon. Two days from today, at noon Eastern Standard
Time, a landing craft will arrive at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC."
***
The control-tower radar at Reagan National tracked the spacecraft from well off the Atlantic coast to
touchdown. The blip was enormous: the "landing craft" was larger than an Air Force C-5 cargo carrier.
(That heavy-lift air transport had been dubbed the "Galaxy" . . . How ironic, Kyle thought.) Fighters
scrambled from Andrews AFB reported a lifting-body configuration: a flattened lower surface in lieu of
wings. The turbulence behind the spacecraft, visible to weather radars, suggested powered descent.
The spacecraft swooped into sight, following the twists of the Potomac River as agilely as a radio-
controlled model plane. The Air Force officer to Kyle's right scowled. "What's the matter, Colonel?
You'd rather they fly over the city?"
"I'd rather that their ship wasn't so maneuverable."
Comparing capabilities? Kyle recalled the enormity of the mother ship in lunar orbit, and stifled a laugh.
Civil air traffic had been diverted to Dulles International; the Galactic vessel shot arrowlike to the center
of the deserted field, settling onto the X of two intersecting runways. A mighty cheer arose from the
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