"Robert Onopa - Area Seven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Onopa Robert)

Area Seven
Robert Onopa


Non era ancor di l├а Nesso arrivato,

quando noi ci mettemmo per un bosco

che da neun sentiero era segnato.




The data alarm squealed like a frightened small animal. The ship shuddered as we braked and the com
screen went blank for an instant, then kicked back up. Servos whirred in the nose below us.

WeтАЩd been slipping along at an altitude of a thousand meters in one of C SurveyтАЩs mapping skiffs. IтАЩd
been asleep, off duty.

тАЬYour turn,тАЭ Tessa said. The tired way she leaned over her console, her face pinched in the pale light,
seemed an image of the strain sheтАЩd been under.

тАЬI went out yesterday,тАЭ I said. тАЬChrist, donтАЩt you remember?тАЭ Tessa and I had a history that went back
before we were posted to crew-on the way out, weтАЩd even talked about something more permanent
between us-but it was affecting me too, a corrosive presence that had dogged the survey since weтАЩd
entered the system. In the past few weeks IтАЩd gotten so melancholy IтАЩd taken to paging throughRational
Death and imagining cryogenic nights that never end.

You think IтАЩm kidding. I wish.

тАЬA motility sensor tripped the alarm,тАЭ she said evenly. тАЬAnd youтАЩre the exo, Serge.тАЭ

I scanned the data. тАЬMovementтАЩs in the box for atmosphere,тАЭ I said.

тАЬSomething replicates.тАЭ

тАЬCrystals replicate,тАЭ I muttered. I studied an image from the planet on the belly camera, zoomed in.

On a gloomy, mottled surface, trunk-like forms rose in a vaguely regular way, like a surreal forest.
тАЬWhere are we?тАЭ I asked.

тАЬFair question. The com link cut out as I was running the program to clear waypoints. ThereтАЩs a glitch-itтАЩs
been happening all over the fleet. Now that weтАЩre darkside, we wonтАЩt get another fix until the planetтАЩs
rotated or we can do the astronomy. Area Seven, I could say that, weтАЩre in Area Seven. But whereis
Area Seven? We canтАЩt exactly say that.тАЭ

тАЬNice,тАЭ I sighed.

тАЬWarm down there.тАЭ