"Alastair Reynolds - Spirey And The Queen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Alastair)

Quillin was a plant, put aboard by those who disagreed with the peace
initiative. She'd been primed - altered psychologically to reject any
Royalist peace overtures."
"She was born like that - with a stick up her ass."
"She's dead, I'm sure of it."
Wendigo almost sounded glad.
"Still, you made it."
"Just, Spirey. I'm the humpty who fell off the wall twice. This time they
couldn't find all the pieces. The Splinterqueen pumped me full of demons;
gallons of them. They're all that's holding me together, but I don't think
they can keep it up forever. When I speak to you, at least some of what
you hear is the Splinterqueen herself. I'm not really sure where you draw
the line."
I let that sink in, then said: "About the ship. Repair systems would have
booted when you hit. Any idea when she'll fly again?"
"Another day, day and a half."
"Too damn long."
"Just being realistic. If there's a way to get off the splinter within the
next six hours, ship isn't it."
I wasn't giving up so easily. "What if wasps help? They could supply
materials. Should speed things."
Again that glazed look. "Alright," she said. "It's done. But I'm afraid
wasp assistance won't make enough difference. We're still looking at
twelve hours."
"So I won't start any long disneys." I shrugged. "And maybe we can hold
out until then." She looked unconvinced, so I said: "Tell me the rest.
Everything you know about this place. Why, for starters."
"Why?"
"Wendigo, I don't have the faintest damn idea what any of us are doing
here. All I do know is that in six hours I could be suffering from acute
existence failure. When that happens, I'd be happier knowing what was so
important I had to die for it."
Wendigo looked toward Yarrow, still nursed by the detached elements of the
Queen. "I don't think our being here will help her," she said. "In which
case, maybe I should show you something." Something like a grin appeared
on Wendigo's face. "After all, it isn't as if we don't have time to kill."

So we rode the train again, this time burrowing deeper into the splinter.
"This place," Wendigo said, "and the hundred others already beyond the
Swirl - and the hundreds, thousands more which will follow - are arks.
They're carrying life into the halo; the cloud of left-over material
around the Swirl."
"Colonisation, right?"
"Not quite. When the time's right the splinters will return to the Swirl.
Only there won't be one any more. There'll be a solar system, fully
formed. When the colonisation does begin, it will be of new worlds around
Fomalhaut, seeded from the life-templates held in the splinters."
I raised a hand. "I was following you there...until you mentioned
life-templates."
"Patience, Spirey."