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

his strength supporting his own and gradually developing the pattern they had chosen, wide-open to
Krinata and the Receptor, Venlagar, but closed to the others, protecting their most vulnerable officers.
Jindigar was prepared to proceed without seeking the shaleiliu hum, but it came as he and Zannesu
worked together.

He wasted not a moment basking in it but, rather, turned directly to Krinata.

With the link to her wide-open, Jindigar caught her oddly human conception of the linkagesтАФtransparent
tubes that connected the officers to Jindigar and among themselves. The tubes carried colored fluid from
one to the other, representing the information flow. Sometimes the fluids glowed brightly in wide tubes,
and sometimes the tubes were constricted, the fluids diffuse or bubbling with turbulence. At the moment,
the links from Center to Inreach, and through Inreach to Outreach, as well as the Center-Receptor link,
glowed bright rainbows, while the others were dulled.

In Krinata's mind, she was now on another plane of existence, as in a dream, holding on to her link while
high pressure fluid spewed out, battering her mercilessly. She hung on with all her courage, unable to
absorb even the relatively small amount of data she was getting from the Receptor. Jindigar wanted to cut
down the amplitude to her, but knew he could help only by making this brief. The Oliat operations which
lost touch with contiguous reality often turned to nightmare for her, for she did not yet grasp where the
Oliat existed and worked.

With them barely stabilized, he told her, //All right, Krinata, go.//

She turned, Cyrus at her right, and went to the Holot mother, hands out to take the infant. Jindigar
braced to soak up the shock for Eithlarin, reminding her, //Protector, this is not a break-in. We need to
read the child.//

//I know!// she snapped, then apologized, adding, //The poor little thing is starving.//

//Don't think about it,// advised Jindigar, //focus on how well Holot protect themselves.// He turned to
Llistyien for her Emulation of Holot characteristics. Grasping the essence of Holot motherhood, Jindigar
did his best to bring those elements up in Krinata, despite her lack of Emulator's experience. Handling the
Holot infant, whose sharp claws and teeth could rend human flesh and whose xenophobia was irritated
by hunger, Krinata now welcomed every clue Jindigar could give her.

She touched the infant in just the right places, soothed with the right strokes, reassured with the right
sounds, ignoring the raw throat the gutturals gave her. Lacking a second pair of arms, she did her best to
cradle the small body against her. Soon the infant quieted.

Now came the dangerous part, for through Krinata's nurturing touch, the awareness of infant, small
striving potential of life, was throbbing through the Oliat. Definitely not the operation to hand an Oliat
on the brink of Renewal. Swallowing the taste of his own fear, Jindigar prompted Krinata, //Now
Venlagar must touch her too.//

Venlagar shiveredтАФeven Venlagar, the farthest from Renewal. But they couldn't afford to stop now.
//You must open to her, Receptor.//

Venlagar's deep indigo eyes searched Jindigar while his Receptor's sense examined the Oliat's balance,
but a Receptor didn't judge the Oliat's internal condition. It was his business to keep the Oliat sensitive to
the environment.