"Edward M. Lerner - Part I of IV - A New Order of Things" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lerner Edward M)

Valle Marineris excursion.

Art had been beside himself for weeks before their vacation. Valle Marineris, the Mariner Valley, was
this incredible canyon near the equator. He didn't quite understand what one-fifth meant; in fact, he had
thought it was something small, but Mariner Valley went one-fifth of the way around the world, which
sounded big. The holos were awesome. They had tickets for the all-day excursion: an end-to-end
flyover, a landing on the canyon floor, and an afternoon crawler ride through a scenic section of the
gorge.
One-fifth of the world turned out to be huge!

His sister Tanya was eight. She became bored with the endless flyover soon after he did. They sneaked
off to play hide and seek. He was hiding in the tiny closet of a crew cabin when, to a loud boom, the
rocketplane shook. It lurched and plummeted. The wisps of cabin light creeping under the closet door
disappeared. He shrieked all the way down. They landed hard. He hit his head and passed out.

He came to upside down, bent around a clothes rod, crumpled garments covering his face. The closet
door had latched itself shut. There was no inside knob, but it yielded finally to determined kicking--into
more darkness. The cabin hatch would not budge.

In time, he understood. A burst fuel pump. An emergency landing. A jagged fuselage rip that
depressurized the passenger compartment. An interior hatch pinned shut by the air still in his cabin, its air
ducts sealed by automatic emergency dampers. Stunned, sobbing survivors immobilized in emergency
ziptite bags. Dazed crew in the rocketplane's few pressure suits searching their trail of wreckage for
bodies--one of which was Tanya's.

He had screamed himself hoarse in the final plunge; Mars' thin atmosphere further muffled his shouting.
Not even his despairing parents heard his cries for help. Alone in the dark, Art knew only that was he
was trapped and alone. The air grew close. In his nest of crew uniforms, he shivered in the deepening
cold. The walls, within arm's reach in every direction, closed in. His hoarse calls faded into whimpers.

Eventually he was found, saved. After more than three hours.

It was a long time before he could sleep without a nightlight.
****
Snakes (local: Hunters): The intelligent species of the Barnard's Star (see related entry) system is
oxygen-breathing and warm-blooded. They are evolved from pack-hunting carnivores.

Early Snake culture centered on clan structures, an apparent extension of pre-intelligence packs. From
that genesis has developed an economic system of pure laissez-faire, caveat-emptor capitalism,
centered on competing clan-based corporations. The dominant group dynamics are territoriality between
clans--in modern times, the contested "territory" is usually commercial rather than geographical in
nature--and competition for status within and between clans. Although normally relevant only to the
Snakes, these rivalries have occasionally influenced interstellar relations (see related entry, "Snake
Subterfuge").

Snake civilization has no direct analogue to human government; rather, Snakes employ libertarian
subscription to and funding of what most humans consider public services. Only the most critical issues
come before an informal council of the major clans/megacorps. The fluid composition of that body is
determined in a not fully understood manner believed to reflect clan stature.