"Michael Sweeney - Virtual Threat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sweeney Michael)

When Pierce took his leave, he felt better. He had not realized how anxious he
had been. He felt very good, in fact he felt like going on-line and getting in
touch with his pals for a little adventure.
He hoped the doctor had gotten as much out of the brief conversation as he
had.
Jameson walked quickly back down the passage way. The underground nature of
the city made access to all places an easy thing. Though, it was still a good
walk from one place to the other.
To be sure the direction he was now hurriedly heading was not the one he had
just taken with the man, Pierce. It had been a necessary lie, to say he lived
in the same direction.
Jameson frowned as he rounded a corner. The information Pierce had related to
him was a revelation.
War with the Martians!
Jameson came to his townhouse and quickly let himself in. He made his way
across the small house. He made his way to the study, via the kitchen. In the
study Jameson chewed a hastily prepared sandwich and began setting up his Game
equipment.
The equipment he was using was one of the new direct line interfaces. He sat
in his comfortable lounger and plugged the cord into the hide-away receptacle
at the back of his neck. There was a slight tingling and the Game options
board appeared in front of his eyes. He on-lined and felt his mind projected
into the ether.
The room he had rented in the Red Dragon Inn Number Forty Two had been a
little high priced. However, the price was made up by the fact that it had a
News Net Exchange Viewer installed. Jameson called up the service and scanned
the video headlines.
There were a few tidbits here and there about some merchanters getting hustled
along the Union/Martian border. There was even a cover story on the incident
in the Delsio Sector. Jameson watched with interest. While he personally had
no interest in that sector, it might foretell of larger things.
Jameson left the Red Dragon Inn and hastened to the docking ring. His ship,
the Dublin Pride, was docked for repairs and was to get underway within the
hour. That left barely any time for thinking over empirical politics. The
first officer, Ramis, met Jameson at the main hatch. Ramis gave the status of
ship and welcomed the Captain aboard.
Arriving at the bridge Jameson was exhausted. He sat back for a moment and
reviewed the last day. He now knew that the Martians were massing troops in a
deserted, remote system for no known reason. He also knew that they had made a
try at another out of the way system earlier. These facts muddled in his mind.

The whole thing could of been chalked up to Martian stupidity. The Martians
were notoriously bad strategists. They would fight tooth and nail for a system
and then give it up with out a fight. Very strange. It was a wonder that they
weren't wiped out. It seemed that whenever it came to the knockout count they
always managed to rebound just enough. However, Jameson felt this was not the
reason. Else, why would Minister Coolidge and Admiral Hurato, of the Union
High Council, be interested in the report of some fringe merchanter? It didn't
add up.
The only thing that it did add up to was that the Union Council suspected the