"Pearls In The Sand (Veronica Robinson)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Veronica)

her with disdain, and she always felt as though she had to prove something
to them. She felt as though she were perpetually the new recruit to their
ranks and could never hope to bridge the gap between their experience and
her own expertise, no matter how hard she tried. The other bioengineers made
Dusque feel that she could not rise to their lofty level - not ever.
It was different with the Ithorian, Perhaps it was simply because they
were both strangers on a strange world that they had forged a friendship in
the sterile environment of their profession. Or maybe it was because they
both were genuinely fascinated by nature and what made things tick that they
had bonded. For whatever reason, they had become good team and were
fortunate enough - or were both disliked enough - that they were assigned to
missions together on a regular basis.
The missions they received were not the best. Typically they found
themselves collecting mundane genetic samples of less-than-unusual creatures
in some of the most backwater locations in the galaxy. Dusque always
listened to those around her, however, and she had more than once stumbled
across tales of a creature of unusual size or rarity because of her careful
observation. She always managed to convince Tendau to come along with her
and she found that the prizes she discovered were enough to mollify those in
charge enough that they overlooked her transgressions. She preferred to ask
for forgiveness rather than for permission when on assignment.
The twin suns of Tatooine beat down mercilessly upon the golden sands.
Everywhere she turned, Dusque saw only gold and blue in endless expanses.
She lowered her hood and wiped the sweat from under her long hair. She
turned toward Tendau and saw that he had followed her cue and removed his
hood as well,
"How are you doing?" she asked.
'I'm -"' Before he could get out another word, he was interrupted by
the whine of la serf ire.
"That sounded like it came from over that dune," Dusque said. She
pointed toward the last direction in which they had seen the trio of looters
heading, She ran toward the blasts. "C'mon."
As they headed cautiously up the dune, Dusque saw a woolly beast with
large, curved horns swing it's head up from the other side of the crest-
"Banthas," Dusque whispered as she slowed her pace, "and blasters."
"It can only be Tusken Raiders, "Tendau said, drawing up alongside her.
"Sand People," she hissed, Dusque was well aware of the Sand People's
ferocity and penchant for cruelty.
They- dropped to the ground and crawled along the hot sand the rest of
the way up to the ridge. From their position, they could see a group of
three Tusken Raiders with five tethered banthas near an impromptu camp. Two
of the three Tuskens had drawn their rifles and were firing on the three
fortune hunters from Mos Taike.
"Those greedy idiots stumbled right into them," Dusque said.
"And they don't seem to be faring very well," Tendau observed.
Dusque looked around and saw little that could help the situation, She
had only a simple Twi'lek dagger, and she knew that Tendau had only a
survival knife. Neither of them carried any other type of weapon - certainly
nothing that would match a Tusken rifle or gaffi stick. She would have to
think of something else. Scanning the scene, she saw only one thing that