"Daniel Keys Moran - The Ring" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moran Daniel Keys)

mean, neither, General MersaiтАж" His voice trailed off.
The aging General's voice was as gentle as he was able to make it. "Young man,
Cain often does foolish things, to my way of thinking. He has the advantage of
having been right on every occasion thus far. If it was the second half of that
comment that upset youтАФhow old are you?"
The abrupt question startled the man. "Sir? I've just turned twenty, sir."
"In other words, you were not even born when Cain returned from the Exile. I
grew up as a slave of the Rulers; so did every other Warrior in this service past the
age of forty or so. You might," he said softly, "want to ply one of the old bastards
with drink some evening and learn what it was like."
The Third was so pale he might have been one of the barbarian guards Cain
employed. "Sir," he half whispered, "I shall. Thank you, sir."
Through the observation windows Mersai saw the canopy of the starship closing
upon Cain. Absently, he said, "You are quite welcome."


It had been fifteen years since Cain had flown a fighter craft of any description.
Nonetheless, he had followed the construction of the starship with minute attention
to detail; the cockpit of the starship was as familiar to him as that of the simulator he
had practiced in.
The canopy closed above him, a near-invisible shield of monomolecular crystal
with a refractivity index near zero. Immediately behind him, the lifeplant was already
flooding the cockpit with oxygen; more oxygen than Cain needed, but the lifeplant
was another piece of genetic engineering from the far past, and Cain's engineers did
not know how to alter the level of its oxygen output.
 It was not a major inconvenience. Had it been, Cain could have locked the helmet
ring at his neck and breathed the bottled air supply from his flight suit. Instead Cain
merely slowed his breathing and regulated his heartbeat to adjust.
"Ten minutes, my lord. We'll be dropping the Shield."
Cain did not tender a reply; none was necessary. He brought the fusion cells
on-line and watched calmly as the temperature of the reaction engines climbed
upward. Tow cables pulled the starship into launch position at the center of a huge
painted circle. Running lights blinked around the exhaust safety perimeter, inside
which the technicians were not permitted.
"No activity upstairs, my lord. We're opening the silo doors."
Above Cain the massive panels that covered the shipyard cycled slowly open.
Through the widening aperture, bright starlight glinted down on Cain. Nearly a
millennium had passed since the Earth had held an industrial civilization to speak of;
the night sky over the Valley was achingly clear, filled with stars.
General Mersai's voice. "My lord Cain; is the Command given?"
The ritual was necessary; in some ways the Caverns and its Warriors were as
ruled by the customs of the Valley as any Worker in the fields. The High Lord could
not enter danger without giving over the Command he left behind to some one of his
Commanders; it did not have to be the highest-ranking Commander, though usually it
was. "Commander General Orrin Mersai, the Command is given."
Another voice, one Cain did not recognize.
"My lordтАж Shield down."
Cain touched a stud on the control panel.
The ship lifted. The Earth fell away beneath him.