"Jacqueline Lichtenberg - Dushau Trilogy 03 - Outreach" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lichtenberg Jacqueline)

quickly. The four Lehiroh men were co-husbands whose wife had died when Jindigar's ship had crashed
on this world. Cyrus and two other human men, trainees, completed the complement of Outriders.

Jindigar understood that Storm and his co-husbands had an agreement with a Lehiroh woman who had
just borne them a son, conceived before it had been decided to train the full Oliat, and before Storm's
crew had come back to work, tabling their personal life. The decision to Dissolve had freed them to
resume relations with the woman and to dare the joy in the care of their child. All four of the men had
well-developed breasts from nursing, and Jindigar knew that the baby had to be here somewhere unless
the woman had him today.

The human trainees were the last to come in and were quickly taken aside by the other Lehiroh as Storm
maneuvered Jindigar to the fireplace, his back to the near strangers.

This is for Krinata, Jindigar told himself. She's done more than this for me. He rehearsed the words in
his mind, then forced them out at Storm. "We adjourned."

Comprehension and a bit of relief flushed his humanoid features. When not lactating, the Lehiroh males
could easily be confused with humans. Jindigar rested both his hands on Storm's shoulders and said,
"Krinata has fever."

"No! I was afraid of that. I should have put a coat on her evenтАФ"

"No. Could have destroyed our focusтАФdestroyed this colony! StormтАФI go to the lab."

"For a blood specimen?" He grinned but politely kept his predator's teeth behind his lips. "Cy, get your
coat. We'll go along and explain to them for Jindigar."

Minutes later, they trudged down the path that skirted the cluster of ephemeral dwellings. Each species
was building in its own pattern. Several hundred people still lived in huge common units, for winter had
interrupted the projects,

On both sides of the path, foundations had been laid for buildings that would house their rebuilt
technology. The Dushau Historians had already resurrected dozens of basic crafts and manufacturing
processes from the depths of memory. The ephemerals were versatile and talented enough to learn many
such skills. By their most optimistic timetable, the Historians figured it might only take a thousand years to
attain space travel again. But, with setbacks such as the clickerhive moving in on them, it could take twice
that long.

They passed the houses and skirted the livestock corrals and barns, which showed little activity except
for the waspish Cassrians at necessary chores. They enjoyed the rain but hated the chill, and called
complaints back and forth in their multi-pitched, whistling voices.

No one worked the fields. They were too marshy even for the light step of the Cassrians. Jindigar
resisted the impulse to bring the Oliat to focus on the life in those fields. Phanphihy had a vigorous
microlife, and he knew mutant forms were already finding the offworld crops very tasty. If they'd made
an error in estimating that process as they had in banishing the minor vermin only to thus attract the killer
clickerhive...

"StormтАФthe Dissolution. We can't do it now."