"Ann Maxwell - Fire Dancer 2 - Dancer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Maxwell Ann)

Black Whole, and a sizable amount of money. She would not mind getting her hands on
the latter, but the former she would gladly avoid. She looked at the people around her,
overflowing the control room and tubular hail, packing the tiny galley and crew quarters,
stacked breast to back in the exercise room until only tiredness kept them from turning on
each other with snarls of outraged privacy. тАЬOnan.тАЭ She sighed and began to climb back
into the pilotтАЩs mesh.

тАЬWait,тАЭ said Kirtn.

RhebaтАЩs cinnamon eyes searched his. тАЬMore bad news.тАЭ It was not a question.

Kirtn whistled a BreтАЩn curse. тАЬOur navtrix.тАЭ

тАЬYes?тАЭ

тАЬIt didnтАЩt recognize any of the planet names we tried on it.тАЭ

тАЬWhat? ButтАФтАЭ She stopped, then turned her attention to the silver snake draped around
KirtnтАЩs neck. тАЬDid you try languages besides Universal?тАЭ

Fssa flexed, taking time to create the proper internal arrangements to speak Senyas. It
would have been less trouble to whistle BreтАЩn, but when RhebaтАЩs eyes sparked gold in
their depths, Fssa knew that precision was preferable to poetry. тАЬWhere planet names
could be translated into other languages, I did. The navtrix,тАЭ he said primly, тАЬwas
completely unresponsive. Onan is the only Yhelle Equality planet it acknowledges. Kirtn
told me you programmed in Onan yourself, long after you left Deva.тАЭ

Rheba whistled a sour BreтАЩn comment. Their navtrix had been made by her own people.
It reflected the extentтАФand limitationsтАФof their knowledge. On her home world of
Deva, the Equality had not even been a myth. In order to take the slaves packed aboard
the ship to their far-flung homes, she would have to get her hands on a Yhelle Equality
navtrix.

Fssa darkened as he mentally translated RhebaтАЩs whistle into its Universal equivalent.
When he spoke again, his voice was coaxing rather than arch. тАЬIтАЩll keep trying, fire
dancer. Maybe one of the new languages IтАЩve learned will help.тАЭ Then he added,
brightening visibly, тАЬTwenty-three of the slaves want to get off on Onan.тАЭ

тАЬHow many does that leave, Kirtn?тАЭ

His torso moved in a muscular BreтАЩn shrug. тАЬI gave up trying to count at sixty.тАЭ

тАЬOn a ship built for twenty and modified for two.тАЭ She stretched, brushing against Kirtn.
тАЬTake us into orbit around Onan. IтАЩll see if Ilfn needs help with the lottery.тАЭ She scooped
Fssa off KirtnтАЩs shoulders. With a delighted wriggle, the Fssireeme vanished into her
hair. Next to a live volcano or ground zero in a lightning storm, RhebaтАЩs energetic hair
was the snakeтАЩs favorite place to be.

As Rheba began to work through the people toward the tube way, two compact brown
forms appeared. M/dere and M/dur quickly cleared a path for Rheba. No one, not even