"Roberts, John Maddox - Cingulum 03 - The Sword, The Jewel and the Mirror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Roberts John Maddox)"Understood, Noyon," Haakon said, relieved. Infiltrating a rebellion was deadly enough without having to take subversive action against it.
"Then go at once and do my bidding. Fear me and obey." 16 TWo HAAKON SAT AMID THE DIMNESS OF HIS BRIDGE, THINKING over the new assignment. It was far from the worst Timur Khan had handed him. At least, this time, they weren't being asked to bring back any heads. That made him suspicious. There had to be some ulterior factor here. Timur Khan had never used the Eurynome team for mere spying. There was, of course, the planet itself. "May I enter the bridge, Captain?" Soong interrupted his musings. "Of course. Have a seat. I was about to see what we've got on this planet Chamuka." "I have just been absorbing some of our data on the subject. Perhaps I can save you some time by abstracting a few of the more cogent points." He took a cup of steaming tea from a 'bot and settled into the copilot's chair. 17 John Maddox Roberts "I'd appreciate it," Haakon said. "AH I know about Chamuka is that it's proverbially the last place anyone wants to be." "And with excellent reason. Much of the animal life is hostile to human presence. Many of the plants are poisonous or dangerous in some other fashion. The climates are mostly ferocious and the terrain ranges from swamp to desert to forbidding mountains with very little inviting land to be had. The inhabitants are warlike and deeply divided into small, independent groups." "Sounds like a real vacation spot. What makes such a godforsaken place important?" "Catalytic crystals are produced there. Apparently these crystals are of supreme importance in producing many of the exotic alloys necessary for ships' engines. They are horrendously expensive to make under laboratory conditions, but they occur naturally on Chamuka. It seems they grow there, rather like plants." Haakon leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. "Why are the Bahadurans so tolerant with these people? Ordinarily, they don't hesitate to sterilize a whole planet if it gives them too much trouble." "It seems that these crystals must have a terribly precise balance of chemicals and atmospheric conditions and such. If the environment is disturbed loo much, they might cease to grow." "That explains a lot. Timur Khan sent in his BT's to surgically excise the source of this rebellion, only they haven't been successful. What do we know about the natives?" 18 THE SWORD, THE JEWEL, AND THE MIRROR "Not much. The original colonists seem to have been Japanese, or at least Japanese-speaking. Incidentally, the name 'Chamuka' is one the Bahadurans gave the place. The local name is a Japanese expression meaning 'Grass Cutter.'" "Odd name for a planet." "I checked on it. Grass Cutter was the name of a legendary sword in ancient Japanese history. Only one small continent is settled, little more than a large island. It is divided into districts by numerous, intersecting mountain ranges. All the districts seem to be named after swords as well." "These people have swords on the brain," Haakon mused. "I suppose they have taken feudal Japan as their prime myth." "Prime myth?" Haakon said, 19 John Mdddox Roberts revived on Han. I am told that my clan came from northern China, up near the Wall. I probably have more steppe blood in my veins than most Bahadurans." "So these people on Chamuka may not be Japanese at all?" Soong shrugged. "Undoubtedly many of the original colonists were, but their attachment to feudal Japan is more likely to be a revival than a continuous tradition." "We'll know more when we get there. I'm suspicious of Timur Khan's motives, though." "It is never a good idea to relax your suspicion of that man," Soong concurred. He looked up to see Jemal standing in the doorway. "Permission to enter," Jemal recited. "Come on in and join our council. You been studying up on Chamuka?" Haakon waved to a navigator's seat and Jemal took it. "Yes. Nasty place. What I came to see about is what's our cover? Timur Khan gave us a carte blanche, and I'm damned if I know what to do with it. If we don't know what's going on down there, how can we know what cover to use?" "Good question. I suggest we keep the ship in high orbit and shuttle down to the main port. Then we just hang around and behave suspiciously." "Not a bad idea," JemaJ said. "If you want to contact rebels, it's best to have a reputation for being anti-social. Finding the right port won't be difficult, either, since there's only one." "That's not so good," Haakon said. "I hate to go into a place that doesn't have a back door." 20 THE SWORD, THE JEWEL, AND THE MIRROR "Ourdata," Soong said, "lists only one official port." "Hmm," Haakon mused. "There could be any number of smugglers' ports. Better make that one of our first orders of business. We'll find out what they like to bring in, hint that we're smuggling it, and get some coordinates for a quick getaway port." "That would be prudent," Soong said. "First party to go down," Haakon directed, "will be just the three of us. Alex and Numa might attract too much attention. Rama's indisposed, and Rand stays with the engines. If it looks like the kind of place where Mirabelle can pick up information easily, she can come down next. I figure if we act shifty enough, somebody should contact us pretty soon. Once we have contact with the underground market, contact with the rebels should be close behind." That evening Haakon wandered back to the engine room. It was the one part of his ship he rarely visited. Like everyone else, the big Teslas that powered the ship made him nervous. They were notoriously temperamental, and were given to spontaneous expulsions of nameless, deadly radiation, for reasons nobody had ever been able to figure out. He found Rand seated at the engineer's small desk next to the humped, hulking shapes of the Tesla engines. Rand was completely sheathed in a therapeutic suit of Galen manufacture. It looked like a suit of battle armor except for some external tubes through which liquids bubbled. Rand had once been standing near a Tesla engine when it blew. Burned down to little more than a 21 John Maddox Roberts skeleton and a brain, he had been regenerating in the suit ever since. At least, that was his story. There was much disagreement within the crew whether there was really a human being in there at all. |
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