"Lisanne Norman - Sholan 05 - Dark Nadir" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norman Lisanne)

pillow. He remembered how soft it felt, so unlike his own Sholan hair. Then he sensed the U'Churian
captain watching him from the doorway.

"Mrowbay says she's stable," said Captain Tirak, "and safe. But you know that since you treated her.
Excuse my curiosity, but you obviously care very deeply for her. Are you and her mate related?
Brothers, perhaps? I know they're a mind-linked pair."

"Brothers. Yes," Kaid replied distractedly as a prescient fear he'd never known before swept through
him. Turning to look at Tirak, he did a double take, thinking for a brief moment he saw Kusac standing
there. The outward physical similarities between their species were uncanny. Pushing his fear aside with
an effort, he retreated again behind his men-tal shields. "Her mother died in cryo when her family
jour-neyed to their colony world."
Tirak made a sympathetic noise, his mouth creasing in a Humanlike grimace. "A tragedy, but it couldn't
happen on the Profit, believe me. Any disruption of the cryo system is instantly reported by the
computer. The units even have an integral backup system, capable of lifesupport in space in the event of
a disaster. They can be launched automati-cally from the bridge, or manually from in here." He pointed to
the wall behind the units.

A very Human scream, long and drawn out, sounded from outside the open door.

Gun instantly in his hand, Kaid leaped past Tirak and was in the corridor before it stopped.

"False alarm, Captain." Sheeowl's voice on the ship's comm echoed throughout the deck. "Was only
Kate. She just met her first Cabbaran."

In the center of the corridor, standing almost upright on its haunches, was indeed a Cabbaran. Kaid
recognized it instantly from the description Captain Kishasayzar had given them. Kate stood facing the
alien, her body frozen in horror.

"We have more passengers, Annuur." Tirak spoke calmly to the Cabbaran. "Badly injured ones. That's
why the change in destination."

As Annuur turned slowly to face them, Kaid understood Kate's reaction. Standing just short of four feet
tall, the being before him was unlike any he'd seen before. Obvi-ously a quadruped, and certainly
vegetarian, his long, yel-low incisors were just visible behind an almost prehensile upper lip. Forward
facing eyes regarded him steadily from beneath a narrow stiff crest of dark hair that ran the length of his
skull and down his neck. The same hair was spread out in a ruff across his shoulders and again over his
flanks. The sandy body fur had been shaved from the sides of his face and shoulder so that the intricately
colored tattoos could be clearly seen.

The lip quivered and Kaid heard him begin to chitter. A flat, mechanical voice started to speak in
U'Churian.

"Nourishment dispensers empty," Annuur's translator in-toned. "Is breach of contract, Captain."

"See to it, Sheeowl," Tirak ordered the crew female hov-ering beside the frightened girl. "Take Kate to
the mess first. My apologies, Annuur. As I said, we had injured to see to and needed to depart from
Jalna quickly. There was no need for you to leave avionics, you could have used the commтАФor were
you just curious about our guests?"