"Peter W. Prellwitz - Book 02 - Shards" - читать интересную книгу автора (Prellwitz Peter W)

Anchorage , Seattle and Idatana weather nets. Mother Nature was loose and flexing her muscle.



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We hadn't gone too far-this guy was big-when we heard the high whine of approaching skimmers above
the pounding rain. I hoped everyone was safe. I wondered if there were any ripes. I hoped so. I wasn't
worried about sharding. Not in this kind of environment when seeing ripes. It was the combination of
seeing a lot of them in a hostile environment, or seeing a ripe that was very similar to a previous ripe of
your own that could cause a sharding episode, and even then it was rare.

By the time we reached the hov, the first four of them were pulling up. Two of them were riding double.
So there had been some ripes they were able to get out. I could tell they were both women, maybe
twenty or twenty-five years old. They were both staring around, as though in a daze. They each wore
uniforms, but from their bagginess it was easy to see the uniforms didn't belong to them.

I heaved up under the man's arm, holding him around his waist. We staggered on. No one had seen us
yet. We were just stepping into the light.

"Uh, people?тАЭ I called out. They all turned and looked. тАЬKudos all around and everything, but could we
get a little help here?тАЭ Two of them came over and took the man. I straightened and walked up to the
ramp. I heard a scuffle behind me and turned.

Both of the girls were clinging to the men that had carried them. One had partially slipped out of her
borrowed uniform and showed a lot of shoulder. They were pleasure ripes: creatures whose minds had
been riped to obey the whims of whomever owned them. Obviously embarrassed, the men were trying to
peel them off.

"Please! Look, this isn't right, uh, miss.тАЭ Gregg Wagner sounded both flustered and flattered by all the
attention. I laughed.

"Well, Gregg! Quite the ladies man, aren't you?тАЭ The girl looked at me.

"Abigail!тАЭ Gibbons voice was sharp. I jumped at his tone and turned around. He was staring. тАЬWhat are
you doing here? Didn't you hear my message?"

"Sorry, Corporal, no. I lost my headset, then Jamison, here,тАЭ I jerked a thumb at him and turned back to
smile at him, тАЬbroke his like a rookie.тАЭ Jamison smiled sheepishly, and I winked at him to let him know
I was just kidding.

The two girls were now close to me. They were on their knees, still clinging to the men who were trying
to get on board. I could hear the nearest one pleading with Wagner. The other one just sobbed quietly.

"Please, let me be with you. I'll be good! I'll always be good. You can do whatever you want. Just
please...тАЭ The second one started making similar pleas.

I felt my blood rush to my face. There was a roaring in my ears, and I was suddenly dizzy. What was