"Maxine McArthur - Time Future" - читать интересную книгу автора (McArthur Maxine)

Four Worlds made it quite clear who the senior members of the
partnership were, and the Nine Worlds, as the rest of us were called,
put up with it because . ?. it was true. If it had not been for the
technology and knowledge of the Four, most of the Nine would have still
been clawing our way out of our respective atomic ages. Or have
destroyed ourselves first, as the case may be. But it was not pleasant
to be reminded of one's own inferiority, and Veatch's insensitivity
fanned the embers of resentment onstation against the Four, and against
the Confederacy in general. The Confederacy that had not saved us from
the Seouras.

In their first attack the gray ships approached the station, ignored
greetings and then warnings, and blocked our communications with anyone
beyond the system. At the time, I hadn't wanted to make any aggressive
moves-they were obviously better armed than we were--but they got
closer and closer. They sent no communications and we had no idea who
we were facing.

The Earth Fleet officers, whose fighter squadrons formed our first and
only line of defense, wanted to give a warning followed by some
aggressive posturing by the squadrons. I resisted this, because the
ships had made no attack on us, although the squadron leaders pointed
out that to isolate us from the Confederacy could be interpreted as a
hostile act. This initial tension continued for hours, while we tried
desperately to find some method of communication, and ended tragically
when a couple of the traders docked at Jocasta tried to make a run for
it and were swiftly, effortlessly shot down by the nearest gray ship.

So began the blockade. I gave in to recommendations from Earth Fleet
and Con Fleet officers to retaliate. The fighter squadrons were
destroyed--shot away as they attacked, picked off as they retreated.
The station's residents panicked. Many of the traders and those
residents with access to transport tried to leave, against our direct
orders. The gray ships destroyed them too. The station was in an
uproar. Already overtaxed environmental systems started
to fail and damage to reflectors plunged whole sections into
darkness.

We kept sending a message of surrender but there was no sign the ships
received it, until they sent us a message that bore the signature we'd
used for the Seouras in the treaty negotiations. We couldn't
understand why they were doing this when they already had access to the
station. We still don't understand.

They called me over to the ship in the same way we'd negotiated for the
treaty. Like those other Seouras they did not seem able to communicate
either verbally or electronically in a way we could recognize, and they
used the implant their predecessors gave me, by which their "thoughts"
or "moods"--neither, really, but there is no word in our vocabulary to
describe it--are directly communicated to my mind. I couldn't do it