"Miller,.Steve.And.Lee,.Sharon.-.Great.Migration.02.-.Crystal.Dragon.v1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Miller Steve)

But, by then, it would no longer wish to do so.
The cadet had, by stealth and by craft, managed to separate one particular tumzahat from the rest. She had not yet fully revealed herself, though she was now shedding a smallЧand unavoidableЧamount of energy.
The chosen tumzahat was large, its energies brilliant. Its cohesion was perhaps not all that could be desired, and it showed a

tendency to flare in an unappealing manner. But it was well enough. For a tumzahat.
The chosen abruptly rolled, as if suddenly realizing its vulnerable position on the outer edge of the tumbling pod. It flared and changed trajectory, seeking to rejoin the others
And spun hard as the cadet revealed herself in a blaze of complex energies, cutting it off from the group, crowding it toward the containment field.
It was a bold move, for tumzahat rightly feared the field, and the danger was that it would bolt and break through the cadet's wall of energy, with catastrophic results for both.
The creature hesitated, confusion dulling its output. The cadet pushed her advantage, herding it, pushing closer to the containment field and the egress port. The tumzahat took its decision, feinted and reversed, diving for the fiery fringe of the cadet's wall, gambling, so it seemed to those observing, that it could survive the passage through the lesser energies.
It was over quickly, then.
The cadet allowed the tumzahat to approach quite near, allowed it to believe its gamble was about to succeed. At the penultimate instant, the tumzahat gaining momentum, its emanations coalesced to an astonishing degreeЧthe cadet released the greater portion of her energies.
The tumzahat tumbled into an oblique trajectory, now running parallel to the cadet's weaving of power. She contracted the field, as if she meant to embrace the fleeing creature in her energies.
Again, it changed trajectory, hurtling back toward the containment field with undiminished momentum. Perhaps it had some thought of immolating itself. It was of no matter. The cadet extended a tendril of energy, slipping it between the tumzahat and the containment field, at the same instant contracting the field.
The force of the contraction threw the tumzahat into the egress port. In one smooth maneuver, the cadet triggered the port and withdrew the tendril separating the tumzahat from the containment field. Emanations sparking in terror, the tumzahat tumbled into the port, bracketed and contained now only by the funnel of the cadet's energies, guiding it, forcing it
The port closed.
In the birthing room, the readied vessel flared, the glow lingering as the nervous system accepted and imprisoned the tumzahat's energies. The cadet's envelope flared less brightly as it accepted her return. She raised her head, and a small tremor of satisfaction escaped her.
On the floor beside her, the vessel spasmed against its restraints. The chest heaved, mouth gaping, and the birth scream echoed against the air. Quickly, the cadet straddled the vessel and lowered herself onto its erection, bonding herself with it on the biologic plane. Beneath her, the vessel screamed againЧand again.
"Nalitob Orn, the cadet crooned against the air. She extended her will and plucked at the tumzahat's captured essence, weaving the syllables into the fabric of its frenzied consciousness. The vessel would already have been seeded at the cellular level with those same syllables, which would now and henceforth be itsЧhisЧname, binding it to the body and to his dominant.
The submissive drew breath for another scream; his dominant extended her will and disallowed it. Carefully, caressingly, she relaxed the straining, fear-poisoned muscles, and released sleep endorphins.
Only when Nalitob Orn was entirely and deeply asleep did she rise. With a thought, she cleaned herself, and with another clad herself in the blue robe of a dramhza-undertraining. For of course the work just completed had been only the first and the simplest of
the bondings required before this nascent pair become a functioning unit.
The new-made dominant turned toward her sleeping and receptive submissiveЧand turned back, bowing low as the Shadow fell over the birthing room, excluding the observers from whatever passed between the Iloheen and the daughter of its intent, the Nalitob Orn dominant.

iv.
ATTEND ME IN the testing chamber.
Their philosophy tutors thought was a steady silken mauve, lightly flavored with copper.
With the five others of her cohort she rose and walked down the stone hallwayЧnaked, silent, but no longer identical. They had some time since been instructed to adjust their physical seemings. This wasЧso the philosophy tutor explainedЧto allow them to grow mor easily apart, to sluff off the small ties that bound sister-students, and to make themselves ready for that bond which would define theire futures and their service to the Iloheen.
As it was also necessary to seem to be one of those who continued to defy the Iloheen, among whom she would of necessity walk, she considered it well to appear both harmless and unable to defend herself. Thus, her stature was small, her bones delicate, her breasts petite. She sharpened her facial features and added amber pigment to her eyes. Her hair was red, short and silky; her ears shell-like and close to her head. She would appear, to one of those enemies of the Iloheen, to be young, her skin unlined and tinged with gold.
With these changes she was content, though she was the least altered of her cohort. Neither their tutors nor any of the Iloheen who increasingly oversaw their progress instructed her to make further alterations, so she accepted it as her full and final physical form. Attend me, the philosophy tutor sent again.
The thought was no less serene, the tang of copper no more pronounced than ever it had been. There was nothing to differentiate this from countless thousands of previous summons.
Saving that the philosophy tutor never summoned them twice to the same lesson.
It was then that she knew they were being summoned, not for a mere philosophy test, but to the Third Doom, the last they would face as students.
The others must have also perceived the warning in that second summons and drawn their conclusions. Indeed, the two boldest quickened their steps, eager to meet the challenge, while the three most thoughtful dared to slow somewhat.
Being neither bold nor thoughtful, she kept to her own pace, and withdrew slightly from her envelope, centering herself and unfurling what she might of her protections. It was, of course, beyond her ability to know what test the Iloheen would bring to them this time. Experience of two previous Dooms, however, indicated that it was well-done to hold oneself both aloof and prepared upon all planes.
Behind two sisters and leading three, she turned the corner into the hall. The stones were slick and frigid beneath her bare feet, the air thick with ice. Ahead, the entrance to the testing chamber was black; empty, to her perceptions, of all energy. A state of no-energy was impossible, so her tutors had taught, each in their own way. To which the philosophy tutor had added,
Bith the hoheen, all things are possible.
The two at the lead faltered; one recovered in the next instant and strode ahead, energies blazing, entered the void, and was goneЧ whether unmade or merely passed beyond the senses was not for such as they to know.
Yet.
The second of the bold approached the void, her energies furled close and secret, and was in her turn swallowed, vanishing as if she had never been.
She, the third, neither quick nor slow, continued onward, protections in place, her essence at a slight remove, tethered by the slenderest of thoughts. The iced stones tore at the soles of her feet, her lungs labored in the thick air. She thought, within her most private and protected self, of the Iloheen-bailel, beautiful and subjugated, transforming the void with its dance.
Then, she passed into Shadow, and all her perception ended.

Awake.
She obeyed, opening her perceptions across all planes. On the dais before her stood the philosophy tutor, the dominant with her hands folded into the sleeves of her gray gown, the submissive kneeling at her side, head bowed, eyes closed.
There was no one else in the Hall of Testing.
The Blessed hoheen, Lords of Unmaking, are pleased that you have passed through this door. The philosophy tutors thought was serene. You are to immediately remove to the birthing room and prepare the vessel which you have nurtured.
x x x
THE VESSEL WAS ready. She had fashioned it neat and supple, with long, curling red hair, and a smooth, gold-toned dermis. Its hands were long, its feet small, its form slender. Standing, it would overtop her only slightly.
That, of course, was for later.
Now, it lay where she had placed it on the tile floor. She settled the head carefully into the restraint before giving her attention to the other fetters, binding first the right wrist, then the left, melding the chain with the floor. She bound the ankles in the same manner, and made the staple snug across the slim waist. Extending her will, she touched each restraint in turn, making certain of her work, then knelt.