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

purpose was to help while away the time, liaisons among the crew. She admired his quiet strength as they
strode. The green of his fur was paling with age, the once bold contrast of his stripe pattern sadly faded.
Lovingly, she lifted a tentacle to trace a lone, idiosyncratic lightning-bolt streak. She would miss it when it
was gone.

In the farm, in the quiet privacy of a secluded copse of trees, he asked again, "Is it bad?"

Only there could be no certain privacy in a ship controlled by K'vithians, and her thoughts were too
dangerous to share. "Time will tell."

They both knew that meant she dare not talk about it.
****
"Come."

The K'vithian escorts in their dark goggles faced outward from the entrance to Gwu's quarters, scanning
watchfully in all directions. Why, she had no idea. The deaths from the initial, failed attempt to recapture
the ship still saddened and sickened her. There would be no further physical assault on their captors.

She had brushed her fur carefully and straightened her utility belt. With a soft cloth she polished a smudge
from her decorative buckle. Her escorts would not notice, nor, most likely, would Mashkith, but she
would know she was at her best. "I am ready. Bring me to the Foremost."

Logic made clear that humans in their billions teemed nearby. During that long ago, painstaking evaluation
of possible destinations, she had pored over uploaded human and K'vithian records. Her knowledge was
sadly out of date, but one remark of a pre-United Planets madman had never released its grip on her
thoughts.

One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.

This Joseph Stalin was long dead, but had humanity changed? If the United Planets were to have
antimatter and interstellar travel, would the Unity become the next statistic?

She must not allow that to happen.
****
Jupiter loomed on the holo wall of the Foremost's cabin. Small black disks, the shadows of several
moons, crept across the cloud tops like a celestial timepiece. To what final resolution did it count?

My leadership has brought us this far. It will overcome this problem, too.

This wall display usually summarized ship's status. Mashkith could restore that information with a thought.
Why favor the prisoners' ka, their Foremost, with his own understanding of the data? A timid knock
rattled his door. "Enter."

K'Choi Gwu ka glided into the room, her fluid, many-limbed gait still a wonder after all these years. She
towered over the Hunter crew who escorted her. "Thank you for seeing me." Her voice was muffled by
the mask that protected her from the sulfur compounds ubiquitous to the Hunter part of the ship.

She did not react to the holo. Surely the Great Red Spot unambiguously identified the gas giant as
Jupiter. She might have learned from careless crew where they were, or deduced it on her own. She
might have thought the image was a recording or simulation, presented as disinformation. Or she might