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

Elvis took them on a virtual tour of the bunker, followed by his fan club, turning off the hologram Vegas
Hilton, to reveal living quarters, hydro-ponies, recycling, power supply, and families hiding in blast
sheltersтАФbut no big stock of weapons, except for the personal sidearms that most adult Presleites
carried, just to be safe. "An armed society is a polite society," the King explained amiably.

Satisfied that this was all true, Derek put in a call to Leo, arranging a peaceful evacuation. For which the
hologram deity thanked him profusely, and zip-signaled a contract for Leo to witness, turning the whole
central massif over to Derek, along with all its contentsтАФthen, in a blink, the King disappeared. Elvis had
left the bunker.

While Leo's battalion searched the lower reaches of the mountain, Derek took Tammy upslope to check
out the command complex at the summit, including an auxiliary reactor, big blast-shelters, and what
looked like a launch silo. For that, they needed oxygen, since the Presleite tunnels did not connect to the
complex above, and they would be climbing into a dead zone, where the air was still too thin to support
life. Pretty appropriate, since the coolness between them continued. He had not heard a kind word from
Tammy since he had told her about Mia; which he might have expected, but still did not enjoy.
Accustomed to Greenie girls, Derek had been lulled into thinking that Tammy might have a similar easy
attitude. No such luck.

Derek had to be satisfied by inspecting his new digs, with his bug crawling ahead of him, searching for
signs of trouble. If the Presleites had not killed any Gekkos to get this mountain, Greenie courts would
likely award it to him. And Derek saw absolutely no sign of Gekkos on the mountain, which was only
slowly becoming habitable as the oxygen level rose. The nearest glass ruins were shining dots far out
across the green swampland, on what would one day be sea bottom.

His bug saw no sign of life in the complex atop the mountain, which seemed to be on lock-down mode.
Power emissions were minimal, and most of the tunnels lacked life-support, standing with ports gaping
open atop an almost-airless mountain stuck up into the frigid stratosphere. At the top, Derek called down
to Leo, saying he was checking out his high castle. Leo gave him a go, and Derek sent in his bug ahead
of them. Tammy closed the ports behind them, turning on the lights and air.

Derek found his new digs impressive, going to the command deck and getting the 3V tour. It had
obviously not been built by the Presleites, but it was not Gekko work either, and the King's claim to the
mountain went all the way to the summit. So long as the place was truly abandoned, and they found
nothing to link it to Pender, this high-tech castle was as good as his, to do with as he pleased. Though
what he really wanted was a ship to pilot. Who could he find to swap a starship for a mountain-top
retreat?

3V showed the silo to be empty, but Derek decided on a visual check. Heavy blast-shielding allowed
Greenies in orbit to "see" the buried silo, but not what was inside. Tammy led him to the silo lock, and
equalized pressures, flooding the huge shaft with breathable air. He sent his bug in ahead.

As he expected, the silo was not emptyтАФthat would have made things too easy. But there was no
doomsday device either, thank heaven. Crouched at the bottom of the shaft was a gravity drive starship,
a sleek fast Fornax Skylark, ready to leap into orbit. Just the sort of ship he wanted. Way too good to be
true.

Signaling Tammy to step back, Derek decided to alert Leo on a secure channel. This silo had to be
sealed tight and escape into space cut off, before anyone dared approach that ship. Recalling his bug, he