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

The tile was warm under her knees; in other perceptions, it was slickly reflective, deliberately crafted to foil any attempt by an enterprising tumsahat to anchor a portion of itself outside of its prepared dwelling place.
Withdrawing slightly from her envelope, she looked deeply into the vessel, searching anxiously for any flaw. The binding phrase had been imprinted at the cellular level; the biologics primed to accept the physical bonding. The autonomous system functioned sweetly, fairly humming as she took it under her dominion.
It was time.
Energies furled, she triggered the access port, changed phase and entered the lesser aetherium.
Dark and secret she floated, the tumzahat frolicking heedlessly about her. As part of her preparations, she had studied the inhabitants of the lesser aetherium and had settled upon one as suitable. To be sure, it was no glorious wild zahata, but well enough, for a tumzahat. It was a bit less heedless than the others of its cohort; its emanations pleasingly regular and its cohesion firm. A suitable tool for one such as herself.

She was patient; she was cunning as a tumzahat is not. And at last her intended danced near.
Swiftly, she unfurled her energies, sweeping out and around, imperative and firm. She did not toy with the tumzahat, nor permit it to build false hopes of escape; she did not allow it to flirt with annihilation against the containment field. Rather, she displayed her superiority, and offered no choice other than to acquiesce to her will.
The tumzahat twisted, dodging close to the trailing edge of her field, testing. This show of boldness pleased her even as she contracted the field, edging the captive inexorably toward the
There was a disruption of the energies within the aetherium; the sluggish ley lines heaved.
Within the vibrant strands of her net, the tumzahat twirled, energies flaring. Her perceptions slid, and she felt the ley lines heat. She focused fiercely and flung her will out, forcing the tumzahat into the egress field. The lines, she thought, were reacting to the attunement of her energies. It was best to be goneЧand quickly.
There! Her chosen was within the egress field. She triggered the port; there was a flare and a confusion of energies as the tumzahat seemed almost to hurl itself into the opening, so that she must needs extend her field, thinner than she liked, scarcely guiding it, while the momentum pulled her outЧand down.
Gasping a thought, she sealed the port behind her, plummeting into her envelope so quickly pain flared. She batted it aside, clearing her senses.
Before her, the vessel showed the lingering glow of the tumzahat's essence. The autonomous system went briefly ragged; she smoothed it absently as the vessel contorted, arching against the restraints. Its chest expanded, its mouth formed a rictusЧBut the birth scream did not come forth.
Hastily, she checked the autonomous system; looked deep within the vessel and ascertained that the time was now, scream or none. She swung over the slim hips, looking down into the sealed, austere face
The eyes snapped openЧcobalt blue and aware, the gaze met hers and did not waver, though the body was panting now; trembling with the force of that unuttered cry. She could feel the tumzahat's confusion increase to damaging levels as it failed to find its accustomed perceptions available, supplanted by alien input from unfamiliar senses.
She smoothed the vessel's breathing, slowed the racing heart, and lowered herself onto its erection.
"Root Tiazan, she whispered against the air.
As foretold by the biology tutor, pleasure flooded her, and she moaned with satisfaction as the biologic link formed. And all the while, the cobalt eyes stared into hers, narrowing as the bonding triggered pleasure responses, then suddenly widening, as if the tumzahat had in some way understood
Beneath her, the hips tensed, twisting, as if to unseat herЧand panic flared once more.
She extended her will, smoothed away the panic and triggered sleep; massaged the tight muscles into relaxation, and bled off the fear toxins.
When she was certain the tumzahat, now Rool Tiazan, was at rest and in no danger of damaging himself, she rose, cleaned herself, and donned the blue robe of a dramhza-undertraining.
That done, she turned back toward the sleeper, intending to transfer the language and motor modules, so that the sleeping intelligence might
A Shadow fell across the birthing room. Immediately, she abased herself.

A successful translation, I apprehend. The Iloheens thought pierced her like a blade of ice.
Yes, Edonal, she sent humbly, and did not think of the twisting ley lines or of that instant of confusion, just before her barely controlled dash through the port...
But the Iloheen did not pursue any of those possible errors. Why a it, the question came instead, that you did not allow your submissive the birth scream?
To admit that Rool Tiazan had been out of her control was to admit that she was unfit to undertake the work for which she had been created and trained.
To express an untruth to an Iloheen wasЧnot quite unthinkable. They had drilled her well in deceit, that she would succeed in those things they would require of her.
There was an infinitesimal flutter at the edge of her perceptions. She ignored it and formed her response with care.
It was experiencing a great deal of contusion, Edon. Oudged the additional stress would do harm both to the vessel and the inhabitant.
She breathed, eyes on the slick tile floor, and awaited annihilation.
The Judgment is not without precedent, the Iloheen stated.
The Shadow passed. She was alone and alive, having lied to one of the Masters of Unmaking.
Not ...quite... alone.
Perceptions wide, she considered the submissive Rool Tiazan as he lay sweetly sleeping in his bonds.
The ley lines, she thought. The ley lines had shifted within the lesser aetherium at the moment she triggered the egress port to download her chosen tumzahat. They had shifted again, just a moment ago, moving them to an all-but-unimaginable possibility where an Iloheen was fobbed off with a novice's lie.
You. She formed the thought gently, without imperativeЧand was not ...entirely... surprised to see the delicate lashes flutter, and the fierce gaze seek hers.
His thought was a ripple of cool greens.
You are no tumzahat, she said.
He did not reply. She tucked her hands into her sleeves, and formed a question.
Why did you manipulate the ley lines?
His eyes narrowed, but this time he answered: Did you wish to be destroyed?
You manipulated the lines twice, she pursued.
I did not wish to be destroyed. He closed his eyes.
Roo/ Tiazan, she sent, sharply.
No reply.
She probed and found only a blank wall of exhaustion, as if he truly slept now, on every level. As well he shouldЧ zahata, tumzahat, or mere biologic.
Briefly, she looked to herself, sublimated toxins into sugars, and replenished depleted cells.