"Jeff Verona - Field Day" - читать интересную книгу автора (Verona Jeff)

with Tevi and me close behind. I found the panel and turned the lights on.
"Jefferson, you remember Tevi, donтАЩt you?"
"YesтАЩm," he said, gulping and bobbing his head.
"Please sit down, Jefferson," Tevi said, gracefully folding herself into a
chair by way of example.
He sat heavily on the couch. "I thought I should tell someone," he said.
"Tell us what, Jefferson?" I settled into the remaining chair.
The words tumbled out in a rush. "TheyтАЩve got a bomb. TheyтАЩre going to use
it.
Someone should stop them." Jefferson was on the edge of his seat, trembling.
Before I could say anything Tevi rose and settled down beside the boy,
wrapping one arm around him and stroking his hair with the other. I opened
my
mouth to warn her that eleven-year-old boys didnтАЩt want mothering, but
Jefferson relaxed against her. After a moment he wiped his eyes and gently
lifted her arm away. My mouth snapped shut
"Sorry." Jefferson sniffed loudly. "My brother Kyle, heтАЩs in the Space
Forces,
and he was bragging to me about it earlier. But you donтАЩt think theyтАЩd do
it,
do you? I mean, really blow it up?"
"Blow what up?" I asked, in my most calm and adult voice.
"The Registry, of course." Jefferson looked surprised. "What else?"
"They are blowing up the Registry?" Tevi said, aghast.
Jefferson nodded. "Kyle said it serves them right for always spying on us."
"The Registry is not a spy," Tevi said.
"Then why do we have to put their beacons on Sovereignty and our ships?" He
looked genuinely curious.
"Jefferson, thereтАЩs a lot of stuff in space," I said. "Without those
tracking
beacons, and without the Registry to monitor them, space travel would be
impossible. Ships wouldnтАЩt be able to plot their courses, and thereтАЩd be
all
kinds of collisions. We need the Registry. Do you understand?"
He nodded automatically.
I sighed. "It probably doesnтАЩt matter anyway. The Registry maintains a
picket
line of surveillance satellites on itself. Sovereignty isnтАЩt the only bunch
of
crackpotsтАФer, the only habitat thatтАЩs thought of this trick. Your bomb
wonтАЩt
get close enough to do any damage."
"Kyle said it didnтАЩt have to get close." Jefferson fidgeted in his seat.
"He
said it was a fission bomb, and it had an ee em pee."
I levitated out of my chair. "An atomic bomb!"
The boy looked suddenly scared. "We have an old fission reactor, from back
when they first established Sovereignty. They got plutonium from it."
TeviтАЩs skin had turned dusky grey. "A breeder reactor. Doug, if they have
enough plutonium for a bombтАФ"