"Ann Maxwell - Concord 2 - A Dead God Dancing" - читать интересную книгу автора (Maxwell Ann)

entered first maturity. We have not tested her since. We have no usable infac, no psi index; we have
nothing but the certainty that she, alone, somehow preserved a Contact on Bjmsk. Violation: she refused
integration after the Bjmsk assignment and was placed on inactive status. She still refuses integration; we
have no reliable means of assessing her mental stability. Violation: she was coerced into accepting this
assignment; the alternative choice was forced integration, which is a probable death sentence.
тАЬNo precedent for either of these two violations can be found in the history of Contact. Yet the
computer would not give an acceptable mimax for Tal-Lith unless Syza Zomal was included in the group.
When I questioned the computer it quoted the Concord Privacy Code. My application for override was
refused.тАЭ
[Exclamations.]
тАЬYes. Refused. Like the singer whose voice haunts our conference, Syza Zomal is among those
select galactic citizens who are exempt from official curiosity.
тАЬThere is one other violation that must be mentioned. Only agent Tov Ryth Lhar will be able to send
off-planet messages. He will communicate only in an extreme emergency; or, hopefully, when the mission
has been successful.
тАЬNow, Councilors, if I may have your decision ....тАЭ
PROCEED WITH EMERGENCY CONTACT AND EVACUATION

I
PLATEAUS ROSE LIKE STONE WAVES FROM TROUGHS OF shadow. Crests eternally
flattened by wind and scoured by sand, the plateaus forbade casual habitation. Talkyer, the natives called
it, Place of the Wind. The wind stretched over black depressions, scraped cold fingernails of grit across
unfeeling rock, boomed hollowly down blind canyons.
LharтАЩs taman moved restlessly, eager to join the others below. Lhar tightened the guide rein and
spoke soothingly until the sound of the tamanтАЩs gnashing teeth lapsed into silence. The wind curled
around him, smelling of stone and drought and time. With narrowed eyes he watched the Contact group
ride carefully through the boulder field at the base of the plateau. TтАЩMero was already far in the lead,
scouting trails that would lead from the jumble of plateaus and canyons to the brackish marsh that
showed only as a smudge across the distant horizon.
TтАЩMero vanished into a cleft between ochre walls; Lhar hoped it was not another blind canyon. The
route that they had chosen from recent survey holocubes had proved impassable. In the tenth-cycle
between survey and landing a rockfall had sealed a crucial pass. Their alternate route was still
openтАФbarely. Numerous detours had tripled the length of the journey. For three days they had been on
half-rations of water; today the ration was reduced to one-third. The animals had none, but fared better;
if necessary they could work without water for up to eight days. That left five days for TтАЩMero to find a
trail out of the stone maze.
Lhar watched KevinтАЩs taman move out of sight, following TтАЩMeroтАЩs tracks. The trail was plain; no
other living thing had passed that way. DiriтАЩs taman followed a short distance behind, moving with an odd
gait. When Diri had not been able to control the beast, TтАЩMero had snubbed its nose to its chest. It was
awkward for both taman and rider, but preferable to having a famished omnivore loose among the
smaller animals.
After an interval of emptiness and wind, Syza rode into view on his left. The muzzled pack taman she
led were roped together in a long line. Occasionally a drifsen would lope up and encourage a lagging
taman. SyzaтАЩs whistle pierced the wind; with a golden blur of speed the drifsen returned to help its mate
with the drifs. Unlike taman, drifs were not belligerent; two well-trained drifsen could control a large
herd.
With a last clear whistle Syza and the animals moved into a shallow trough. They would be out of
sight until they circled the boulder field. Lhar held his impatient taman and waited for the animals to
reappear. As he waited, strange music drifted up, a sound not unlike the wind. He forced his taman to
stand quietly and listened with total concentration. All he could hear was the erratic click of hooves on