"David Weber - Fifth Imperium 02 - The Armageddon Inheritance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weber David)

And I want a copy of the software. If you can pull it off, IтАЩll want all the sites to be able to follow suit."

"Fine," Tegran agreed, walking back to his scooter. Geb followed him, and the project boss paused as
he remounted "What's this I hear about nonmilitary enhancement?" he asked, his tone elaborately casual.

Geb eyed him thoughtfully. A few other Imperials had muttered darkly over the notion, for the Fourth
Imperium had been an ancient civilization by Terran standards. Despite supralight travel, over-crowding
on its central planets had led to a policy restricting full enhancement (and the multi-century lifespans which
went with it) solely to military personnel and colonists. Which, Geb reflected had been one reason the
Fleet never had trouble finding recruits even with minimum hitches of a century and a halfтАж and why
Horus's policy of providing full enhancement to every adult Terran, for all intents and purposes, offended
the sensibilities of the purists among his Imperials.

Yet Geb hadn't expected Tegran to be one of them, for the project head knew better than most that
enhancing every single human on the planet, even if there had been time for it, would leave them with far
too few people to stand off an Achuultani incursion.

"We started this week," he said finally. "Why?"

"WellllтАж" Tegran looked back at the departing power bore, then waved expressively about the site. "I
just wanted to get my bid for them in first. I've got a hell of a job to do here, andтАФ"

"Don't worry," Geb cut in, hiding his relief. "We need them everywhere, but the PDCs have a high
priority. I don't want anybody with implants standing idle, but I'll try to match the supply of operators to
the equipment you actually have on hand."

"Good!" Tegran readjusted his goggles and lifted his scooter a meter off the ground then grinned broadly
at his boss. "These Terrans are great, Geb. They work till they drop, then get back up and start all over
again. Enhance me enough of them, and IтАЩll damned well build you another Dahak!"

He waved and vanished into the bedlam, and Geb smiled after him.

He was getting too old for this, Horus thought for no more than the three millionth time. He
yawned, then stretched and rose from behind his desk and collected his iced tea from the
coaster. Caffeine dependency wasn't something the Imperium had gone in for, but he'd been
barely sixty when he arrived here. A lifetime of acculturation had taken its toll.

He walked over to the windowed wall of his office atop White Tower and stared out over the bustling
nocturnal activity of Shepherd Center. The rocket plumes of the Terran space effort were a thing of the
past, but the huge field was almost too small for the Imperial auxiliaries and bigger sublight
shipsтАФdestroyers, cruisers, battleships, and transportsтАФwhich thronged it now. And this was only one
of the major bases. The largest, admittedly, but only one.

The first enhanced Terra-born crewmen were training in the simulators now. Within a month,
he'd have skeleton crews for most of the major units Dahak had left behind. In another six, he'd
have crews for the smaller ships and pilots for the fighters. They'd be short on experience, but
they'd be there, and they'd pick up experience quickly.

Maybe even quickly enough.