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

her throat. Sudden waves traveled from the tips of Gwu's eight tentacles to her torso and reflected back:
a self-mocking laugh. Which fruit to eat ... that was the type of decision that might safely have been
entrusted to her.

She was old and tired and insane. That insanity had brought them here. If there were to be any hope of
redemption, any chance of saving her crew-kindred, any prospect of ever seeing home again, now was
the time to nurture and embrace that insanity.
****
The shakedown cruise had been a triumph.

Part of that, K'Choi Gwu ka knew, was simple astronomical good fortune. The interstellar drive could
not be operated safely deep within the gravity well of the Double Suns, but nature had provided. Some
said the Double Suns was a misnomer, that they and the Red Companion formed a trinary system.
Others asserted that precise observations of that red dwarf covered so brief a time period that its course
was uncertain. It might distantly orbit the Double Suns; it might be moving too fast, passing in a brief
celestial encounter. To Gwu, that discussion missed the point: The Red Companion was a mere fraction
of a light-year away! A more convenient destination for the test flight could not have been imagined.

But the Red Companion had no planets, hence no life and limited resources, hence was of little long-term
interest. Beckoning from a scant few light-years away was the human solar system, its yellow sun a
near-twin of Primary. Next closest, the K'vithians were half again more distant. The nearest neighbors
thereafter were more than twice the distance to Earth. None considered a next step farther than that, with
the prodigious investments in time and antimatter such trips would entail.

For twenty years, the Unity sought consensus. Should the next voyage be to Earth or K'vith? Trade
agents mined the infospheres at both candidate destinations, speculating how humans or K'vithians would
respond to visitors. Or, respectful of the ongoing unease many within the Unity felt for their interstellar
neighbors, it was also debated: should all further use of the technology be reconsidered?

At times, Gwu despaired. These incompatible points of view were not new. She had politely debated the
same issues when theory first hinted at the feasibility of an interstellar drive, and again when it seemed
possible to generate enough antimatter to make such a drive practical. Both times, the ultimate outcome
had been the same: Research had proceeded in secret, in theory invisible to other species' InterstellarNet
agents, while the Unity's own agents continued to explore distant data networks.

And, as always--as data trickled in, as once novel perspectives became, if not compelling, at least
familiar--points of concurrence emerged. The K'vithians showed no signs of an antimatter capability,
unlike the humans who tried to hide one. Neither group exhibited significant progress towards an
interstellar drive, nor of physical theory supportive of one. No recent attempts to undermine
InterstellarNet came to light.

So Gwu was unsurprised when, after many years, consensus was fully achieved. A voyage would be
undertaken, as she had for so long advocated. The K'vithian solar system would be its destination.
Harmony, the Unity's starship, would go unannounced. From the fringes of K'vithian space, the mission
would consult with the Unity's trade agent before making contact. The ship would bring fuel for the return
trip; it would not carry antimatter-production equipment that might prove too tempting.

No, Gwu was not surprised that a course of action was finally decided. Its outlines, she thought, had long
been evident.