"Richard A" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lupoff Richard A)

denied the possibility of his ever facing inconvenient detumescence.
Flung from rocky Pluto as the planet swung toward the ecliptic on its
nearly 18-degree zoom, the ship was virtually catapulted away from the
sun; it swung around Neptune, paid passing salute to the satellite of its
birth with course-correcting emissions, then fled, a dart from the
gravitic sling, into the black unknown.
And Shoten, most extensively cyborged of the crew members, flicked a
mental command. Hooking into the ship's sensors, Shoten homed the
consciousness of the navigational biotic brains onto the remote readouts
that spelled the location of the distant object. The readouts confirmed
suspected information about the object: its great mass, its incredible
distance beyond even the aphelion of the orbit of Pluto some eight billion
kilometers from the sun -- the distant object circled its primary at a
distance twice as great as Pluto's farthest departure from the solar
epicenter.

The ship -- named Khons in honor of an ancient celestial deity -- held
life-support supplies for the three crew members and fuel and power
reserves for the complete outward journey, the planned landing on the
distant object, the return takeoff and journey and final landing not on
Pluto -- which by the time of Khons's return would be far above the solar
ecliptic and beyond the orbit of Neptune -- but on Neptune's larger moon
Triton where a reception base had been readied before Khons ever had
launched on its journey of exploration.

As for Njord, he grumbled under his breath, wishing almost irrelevantly
that he knew the original gender of Shoten Binayakya before the latter's
cyborging. Njord Freyr, born in the Laddino Imperium of Earth, had
retained his masculinity even as he had undergone the customary
implantations, excisions and modifications of pubescent cyborging.
Sri Gomati, of Khmeric Gondwanaland, had similarly retained her female
primary characteristics in function and conformation even though she had
opted for the substitution of metallic labia and clitoris, which
replacement Njord Freyr found at times irritating.
But Shoten, Shoten Binayakya, fitted with multiply-configurable genitalia,
remained enigmatic, ambiguous as to his or her own origin: Earth-born, or
claiming so, yet giving allegiance neither to the Laddino Imperium
governed by Yamm Kerit ben Chibcha as did Njord Freyr nor to Khmeric
Gondwanaland, ruled by Nrisimha, the Little Lion, where lay the loyalty of
Sri Gomati.
"So," Njord grated. "So, the great planet thus announces its presence." He
grimaced as automatic materials reclamation servos skittered futilely
seeking recoverable proteoids from the aborted congress.
Sri Gomati, enigmatic silvered cyber-optics glittering, turned to face the
disgruntled Njord, the ambiguous Shoten. "Can you see it yet?" she asked.
"Can you get a visual fix?"
Shoten Binayakya reached a cyberclaw, tapped a visual extensor control.
Biotic brains keyed to obey any crew member activated the extensor, guided
it toward one glittering optic. The shimmering field crept aside; input
receptacles opened, ready for the insertion of fiber-optic conductors.