"Julian May - The Golden Torc" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

able to bargain his cooperation in return for Tanu help in finding
MercyтАФand a torc-less status.
The old bone digger, Claude Majewski, showed no hidden mind-powers. With some disdain, minions of
the Tanu in-formed
him that he would be sent north to the city of Finiah,
together with most of the week's bag of time-travelers, and put
to work. He found himself incarcerated in Castle Gateway's
"people pen," together with more than thirty other ordinary
humans, awaiting the departure of the northern caravan. In the
prison dormitory lay Richard, comatose from mental abuse by
Epone.
The last members of Group Green to be tested by the exotic
slave-mistress were Sister Amerie and Felice Landry. The nun
had no important latencies. Faced with being tested next, Felice.seemed seized by hysterical fear;
her agitation made an accurate calibration impossible. Epone gave up on the girl, since she could
be tested later in Finiah. Then, in an offhanded way,
Epone informed the two of the Tanu custom of using human
women for brood stock, dismissing their indignant protests with
the promise that they would eventually accept the role and even
be happy with their new life in Finiah. When the exotic woman
left them, Felice's feigned hysteria vanished. She had suc-ceeded
in concealing her strong latent metafunctions from Epone,
escaping the torc at least temporarily; and now she resolved in
cold fury to "take" the entire Tanu race.
That evening, two caravans left Castle Gateway, traveling
along the Pliocene River Rhone in opposite directions. In the
northern group, bound for Finiah on the Proto-Rhine at the
edge of the Black Forest, were the partially recovered Richard,
Claude, Amerie, Felice, and the majority of the other human
prisoners. They were escorted by Epone and a squad of gray-torc
human troops. In the southern cavalcade, led by Creyn,
were Elizabeth, Bryan, Aiken Drum, the wounded Stein, and
two other silver-torc humans: a former juvenile officer from a
colonial satellite, Sukey Davies, and a glum Finno-Canadian
forester, Raimo Hakkinen.
At first the northern train made peaceful progress. Suffering
from having to ride a huge Pliocene mount called a chaliko,
Amerie searched her soul and began to understand the neurotic
pressures that had led her to abandon her ministry. Richard,
recuperating with the help of Claude, stewed in helpless rage
when his position became clear. He was dubious, but subcon-sciously
receptive, when Felice proposed a scheme for escape.
Two days out of Castle Gateway, Felice's plan was acti-vated.
She had three weapons: preternatural strength in a de-ceptively
slight body, the ability to mind-control animals (an


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