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

Venlagar intervened in a level tone, knowing, as they all did, why Jindigar was not reacting as a Center.
"Naturally Jindigar feels threatened by your suggestion, Dar." He turned to Jindigar. "But I think we all
know that this mess is our responsibility. It isn't as difficult for me to say this as for the rest of youтАФso I'll
say it first. So long as I can hold so much as a duad, I'll continue."

Zannesu looked into EithlarinтАЩs eyes over Krinata's flushed, freckled face. But Eithlarin spoke for them.
"What if we continue to make mistakes?"

"We probably will." Jindigar told them everything Terab had said, finishing with the nightmares resurfacing
among the ephemerals. "With the fine balance you gave me yesterday, I should have known that would
happen, and I should have found another way. This Oliat at its best is not trustworthy. Trying to rectify
the error that brought the clickcrhive may only make matters worse." He wondered what Terab would
say when he reported that the Oliat was the source of their trouble. He doubted if any ephemeral hail
ever heard of an untrustworthy Oliat.

Krinata's eyes drifted open and focused. Disoriented by the adjournment, feverish, she accepted the cup
Eithlarin held for her but asked vaguely, "What happened?"
Jindigar sighed as they all launched into different explanations. In the end, it would be up to Krinata. After
a taste of what Oliat balance had done to her health, she might not be able to face it again. But if she
withdrawsтАФDar won't have any reason to destroy herself with pensone.

THREE
A Simple Job

The Holot infant was fretting miserably with hunger, her six limbs thrashing against her mother's body
despite the blanket muffling her downy form.

Jindigar had assembled his Oliat in the Holot cave for this operation. The vats for making the slurry of
curdled herbivore milk to feed the Holot infants were clean now; all the putrefaction caused by
clickerhive beast droppings had been steam-cleaned away.

Under no circumstances would the committees of the other species allow the Holot to continue making
their baby food. Jindigar had reported, through Krinata, just how and why the clickerhive had descended
on them. They had accepted that the Holot food had lured the animals, but they discounted the Oliat's
role in the original error. Ephemerals regarded such fallibility as a norm, refusing to take it as a sign that
the Oliat had gone as far as it could.

"Jindigar," Terab had said, "people resent the Oliat for quitting just when you're needed most. They're
beginning to distrust Dushau altogether."

Terab had recounted the acrimonious interspecies rivalry at the joint committee meeting, declaring that if
the Oliat couldn't find a solution to the Holot problem, the colony would surely split. She was Holot, and
emotionally involved, but even so, Jindigar believed her. He had brought his Oliat into the field once
more, knowing this would only convince some ephem-erals that they were quitting by choice, but also
knowing that,

as Krinata had insisted, "If the colony falls apart, we may as well not bother to survive
DissolutionтАФbecause we won't live long."