"Kathy Tyers - Firebird 2 - Fusion Fire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tyers Kathy)

traditional right to sacrifice you in battle, youтАЩre here today.тАЭ His eyes smiled. тАЬWith me.тАЭ

That sense of approval in himтАФalready she was addicted to it. He knew how happy he made her, and
her joy pleased him, and she felt his pleasure: the emotional resonance of pair bonding.

тАЬAll right, then. Let me have the touchboard for a minute.тАЭ He slid the little console her way, and she
pressed several keys. тАЬLook at this, Brenn.тАЭ

He rested his elbows on the tableтАЩs white surface. тАЬTerrellтАЩs service record. What am I looking for?тАЭ

тАЬNothing. ThatтАЩs just the point. Nothing outstanding at all, neither positive nor negative. Almost blatantly
average in every way, as if he were avoiding notice.тАЭ

тАЬDonтАЩt you trust average people?тАЭ She felt his amusement rise again, but satisfaction took its place. тАЬIтАЩll
guess youтАЩd be easier in your mind if I talked to the testing chief. He would probably let me try to lower
my reading on the sensors, just to see if it could be done.тАЭ He rose, took a platter in each hand, and from
across the room he sailed them dead into the тАШwasher slot. тАЬI might even have time after my meeting this
morning. What would you say to that?тАЭ

тАЬThank you, BrennenтАФshow-off.тАЭ Hoping he felt how sincerely she meant her thanks, she stood and
shuffled toward the vine-grown green well at the center of the living room.

Testing chief. Firebird stopped short at the edge of the glass enclosure.

Before they had been married a week, Brennen had sensed epsilon energy rising behind her own
consciousness. The mystery of NaetaiтАЩs sonless royal family was solved by a simple blood test: she
carried the hereditary, male-specific antigen of the Aurian plague, or makkah; she, like ThyricaтАЩs
starbred, was distantly descended from the plague-scattered Aurian race. Apparently, a small Aurian
crew had made planetfall on Naetai, and one AurianтАЩs bloodline, secreted among the aristocracy, had not
died out. How Firebird had wished for access to a NтАЩTaian historical bank when she found that out!

Treated now, she carried sons. Sons. She still had trouble believing it. Angelo women did not bear sons.
The plague had left the Aurians without sons, too, a dying people scattered to the stars in a last search for
pockets of humanity. Five hundred years ago, a colony ship carrying twenty-seven survivors had made
planetfall on Thyrica. The plague had left a legacy of spontaneous termination of male pregnanciesтАФuntil
the cure was found, and the AuriansтАЩ great-great-granddaughters bore sons at last.

She bent forward. A baby kickedтАФor shovedтАФor buttedтАФand she straightened. Brennen laughed
softly behind her. He wouldnтАЩt have felt the kick, but by now he would most likely identify the mixed
emotions she felt when either baby moved.

IтАЩd like to know more about the testing. Maybe heтАЩd take me with him. Would there be time before
my appointment with Master Spieth? Distracted from her concern with Terrell, she almost spoke.
No. She pressed a palm against one clear wall. DonтАЩt bother the testing chief. Ask Aldana Spieth.

==========

They flew inland together, Firebird piloting up the cleft in the jagged DrackensтАФone thing she could still
do nearly as well as before sheтАЩd become so heavy. SheтАЩd do it again in battle someday, too, but this
time on BrennenтАЩs side. Imagining the nervous pressure of a carrier landing, she used only a quarter of the