"Charles Stross - Missile Gap" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

donтАЩt live closer to the coast. I mean, if they did weтАЩd never have bothered with the place. After the first
landing, that is.тАЭ He frowns. тАЬIf you can ask at the crown surveyorтАЩs office if there are any relevant records,
that would help.тАЭ
тАЬThe crown surveyorтАЩs not very helpful.тАЭ ThatтАЩs an understatement. The crown surveyor is some kind of
throwback; last time she went in to his office to ask about maps of the northeast plateau heтАЩd asked her
whether her husband approved of her running around like this. тАЬMaybe when youтАЩre out of here.тАЭ She moves
her chair closer to the side of the bed.
тАЬDoctor Smythe says next week, possibly Monday or Tuesday.тАЭ John sounds frustrated. тАЬThe pins and
needles are still there.тАЭ ItтАЩs not just his right hand, lopped off below the elbow and replaced with a crude affair
of padding and spring steel; the venom spread and some of his toes had to be amputated. He was fitting
when Maddy reached the hospital, four hours after he was bitten. She knows she saved his life, that if heтАЩd
gone out alone heтАЩd almost certainly have been killed, so why does she feel so bad about it?
тАЬYouтАЩre getting better,тАЭ Maddy insists, covering his left hand with her own. тАЬYouтАЩll see.тАЭ She smiles
encouragingly.
тАЬI wishтАУтАЭ For a moment John looks at her; then he shakes his head minutely and sighs. He grips her hand
with his fingers. They feel weak, and she can feel them trembling with the effort. тАЬLeave JohnsonтАУтАЭ the
surveyorтАУтАЬto me. I need to prepare an urgent report on the mock termites before anyone else goes poking
them.тАЭ
тАЬHow much of a problem do you think theyтАЩre going to be?тАЭ
тАЬDeadly.тАЭ He closes his eyes for a few seconds, then opens them again. тАЬWeтАЩve got to map their population
distribution. And tell the governor-generalтАЩs office. I counted twelve of them in roughly an acre, but that was a
rough sample and you canтАЩt extrapolate from it. We also need to learn whether theyтАЩve got any unusual
swarming behaviorsтАУlike army ants, for example, or bees. Then we can start investigating whether any of our
insecticides work on them. If the governor wants to start spinning out satellite towns next year, heтАЩs going to
need to know what to expect. Otherwise people are going to get hurt.тАЭ Or killed, Maddy adds silently.
John is very lucky to be alive: Doctor Smythe compared his condition to a patient heтАЩd once seen whoтАЩd been
bitten by a rattler, and that was the result of a single bite by a small one. If the continental interior is full of the
things, what are we going to do? Maddy wonders.
тАЬHave you seen any sign of her majesty feeding?тАЭ John asks, breaking into her train of thought.
Maddy shivers. тАЬTurtle tree leaves go down well,тАЭ she says quietly. тАЬAnd sheтАЩs given birth to two workers
since weтАЩve had her. They chew the leaves to mulch then regurgitate it for her.тАЭ
тАЬOh, really? Do they deliver straight into her mandibles?тАЭ
Maddy squeezes her eyes tight. This is the bit she was really hoping John wouldnтАЩt ask her about. тАЬNo,тАЭ she
says faintly.
тАЬReally?тАЭ He sounds curious.
тАЬI think youтАЩd better see for yourself.тАЭ Because thereтАЩs no way in hell that Maddy is going to tell him about the
crude wooden spoons the mock termite workers have been crafting from the turtle tree branches, or the
feeding ritual, and what they did to the bumbler fly that got into the mock termite pen through the chicken
wire screen.
HeтАЩll just have to see for himself.




Chapter Fifteen: Rushmore
The Korolev is huge for a flying machine but pretty small in nautical terms. Yuri is mostly happy about this.
HeтАЩs a fighter jock at heart and he canтАЩt stand Navy bullshit. Still, itтАЩs a far cry from the MiG-17s he qualified
in. It doesnтАЩt have a cockpit, or even a flight deckтАУit has a bridge, like a ship, with the pilots, flight engineers,
navigators, and observers sitting in a horseshoe around the captainтАЩs chair. When itтАЩs thumping across the
sea barely ten meters above the wave-tops at nearly five hundred kilometers per hour, it rattles and shakes