"R. Garcia Y Robertson - Oxygen Rising" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robertson R Garcia Y)

Verdicts came back confirmed, much to the Gekkos' surprise. Derek expected it, knowing naval officers
had scant sympathy for the Humanist militiaтАФbungling amateurs who gave war a bad name. Gekkos
made the common mistake of assuming that all humans were the same.

Judge Leo carried the sentences out personally. Life and death were all that mattered to a SuperCat, and
he would never have sat in judgment if someone else was going to execute the sentence. What would be
the point? He asked the father how he wanted it done. Lips drawn, the human replied that he wanted his
son to die first, "But I don't want to see it."

Leo understood, telling him, "Say your good-byes." Which the dad did, first to the crew chief, then to the
son who would die. Then the father watched his son obey his final order, marching off without a misstep,
disappearing behind a screen of tree ferns, where Leo shot him.

When Leo came for the father, the human said a final good-bye to the Gekkos. "I'm glad we killed every
one of you assholes."

Watching the father go, Derek knew how the man felt. Ceremoniously shooting them for destroying a
smallish city did seem ludicrous, since humans had gone on to kill every Gekko on the planet. Vastly
outnumbered, and clinging to a few dwindling isolated settlements, Pender's people knew that even
antimatter warheads would not win for themтАФso the Humanists countered with their ultimate weapon.
When the settlers first arrived after two centuries in transit and found Harmonia inhabited by Gekkos,
plans for terraform-ing the planet were put on hold. Facing complete defeat, Pender ordered the
terraforming into immediate operation. Deep-space teams at the edge of Ares system crashed water ice
comets rich in CO 2 into Harmonia, producing surface water, rain, and green-house gases. At the same
time, Pen-der's biotechs released superplants into the thicker wetter atmosphere, sending oxygen levels
soaring. Mounting oxygen and humidity killed all the Gekkos that didn't flee off-planet. Homo sapiens
had again come out on top, against daunting odds, and on alien ground. Proving that humans were a
dangerous species to tangle withтАФfor those few that did not already know.

Tammy took away the surviving teenager, acquitted of all charges, but still rendered a homeless orphan
by the courts. Derek let her go without a word, guessing that this was not the moment to offer her a job
working for the new masters of Harmonia.

He caught up with Tammy in orbit, where settler families waited to be shipped outsystem. Trust Greenies
to design the perfect transit camp, turning the main hold of a C-class freighter into a hologram tropical
isle, complete with warm sunlight, sea breezes, and righteous waves. Folks lived in thatched treehouses
and palm huts, while a dropshaft in the island's center led to more standard decksтАФfor those who tired
of paradise. Tammy sat on the beach staring out to sea, having traded her militia uniform for a gaudy
sarong and a hibiscus blossom tucked behind her ear. Other refugees lounged about in various states of
undress, and children splashed in the surf beneath a bright hologram skyтАФ including Brad, who Tammy
turned out to be watching. Someone upwind was roasting a pig, while teenagers lovingly smoothed and
sanded balsawood surfboards.

Sitting down in the hot sand beside Tammy, he watched a blue breaker slam into the beach, sending
glittering spray flying through warm tropical air. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted Tammy had nicely
rounded breasts, even if they weren't green. "Is this what Portland is like?"

Laughing, Tammy looked over at him, the first time he had coaxed more than a smile out of her. "No, this
is not Portland. Not even close."