"Moon, Elizabeth - Vatta 1 - Trading In Danger" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

vital information. Some preferred not to be named here.

Thanks are due to David, Richard, Susan, Julia, Selina, Joshua,
Laura, Ellen, and Sean, all of whom made innumerable helpful
comments. Also the economist I met on a flight to Tulsa, and
whose name I never knew . . .

David R. Watson deserves particular thanks for his expertise with
archery and his willingness to help choreograph fight scenes.

Anne McCaffrey, with a lift of the eyebrows, solved a problem I
was having when I talked to her about it. Her words were wise, but
the lift of the eyebrows had already done the trick.

The regulars on the news group, with their encouragement, helped
me over the rough spots. So did the SFWA Musketeers and
Musketeer Auxiliary.

The Florence High School faculty and staff (especially the special
education folks) had a part in this toward the end, by doing such a
great job of easing our son into high school.

Mistakes and omissions are all mine.




CHAPTERONE

Kylara Vatta came to attention in front of the CommandantТs desk.
One sheet of flatcopy lay in front of him, the print too small for her
to read upside down. She had a bad feeling about this. On
previous trips to the CommandantТs office, she had been
summoned by an icon popping up on her deskcomp. Those had all
been benign visits, the result of exams passed in the top 5
percent, or prizes won, and the Commandant had greeted her with
the most thawed of his several frosty expressions.

Today it had been УCadet Vatta to the CommandantТs office, on
the double,Ф blaring out over the speaker right in the middle of her
first class period, VeshpasirТs lecture on the history of the first
centuryPD . Veshpasir, no friend to shipping dynasties, had given
her a nasty smirk before saying, УDismissed, Cadet Vatta.Ф

She had no idea what this was about. Or rather, she hoped she
didnТt. Surely she had been careful enough . . .

УCadet Vatta,Ф the Commandant said. No thawing at all, and his left
eyelid drooped ominously.