"Vattas 4 - Command Decision - Moon, Elizabeth_13" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

*Published by Ballantine Books

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Former Marine ELIZABETHMOONis the author of many novels, includingEngaging the Enemy,
Marque and Reprisal, Trading in Danger , the Nebula Award winnerThe Speed of Dark , and
Remnant Population , a Hugo Award finalist. After earning a degree in history from Rice University,
Moon earned a degree in biology from the University of Texas, Austin. She lives in Florence, Texas.

CHAPTER

ONE


Nexus II

Rafael Dunbarger landed at Nexus Center Port as Genson Ratanvi, a staid, slightly paunchy middle-aged
businessman in food service with a Cascadian identity. His tidy gray beard and gray-streaked hair, his
padded cheeks and aged skin, his sober business suit with a few lines of Cascadian green through its
subtle gray plaid all fit this image. Customs and Immigration passed him through, as his bioassays all
matched his identityЧas well they should, Rafe thought. Short-acting DNA subs programmed with his
alterТs bioassays might give him a temporary headache, but that was a price he could pay. He had
obtained this first false ID at Cascadia more than a decade before, and heТd used it here several times,
on visits his family hadnТt known about.

The trip from Cascadia had been no worse than usual; he had spent the twenty-nine days chatting with





other business travelers, exercising in the business-class gym, reading in the business-class lounge,
avoiding the gawking tourists and the family groups as his persona required, and carefully not thinking
about Ky or Stella Vatta. Ky was beyond his reach, probably dead; he could not tease Stella now, not
until she reached some equilibrium with her new identity.

Instead, he toyed with ISCТs problems. How had so many ansibles gone bad all at once? Surely not
chanceЕwho had done it? Why was repair so slow? If he himself could restore function in a few hours,
why werenТt ISCТs repair teams making more headway? How deeply had the pirates infiltrated ISC?

Landing on Nexus IIЧhe carefully did not let himself call it homeЧRafe pushed that puzzle aside.
Genson Ratanvi needed to find a way to contact RafeТs family, discreetly.

First he headed for the Ambisor, a commercial hotel frequented by business travelers where he had
stayed before; his minimal luggage trailed him on a rented hoverpad. Once installed in his room, he first
dealt with the hotelТs surveillance system and then installed his own unique gear. The hotelТs system
would now inform the hotel that Genson Ratanvi came in, bathed, slept, and went out, on a reasonable
but not too rigid schedule; it would believe anything he sent it, including remotely from his implant.
Pseudo-calls would be noted; pseudo-messages would be sent. Then Rafe called up the business
directory on the room display, marking the sorts of businesses he should, in this persona, mark, then