"Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - StarShield Book 1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weis Margaret)

тАЬNow, everyone get out,тАЭ Queekat said, his voice suddenly weary. тАЬI have a few things to attend
to.тАЭ
Everyone hesitated for a moment, then Primla motioned grimly for them to follow him through
the portal back into the passage they had come down earlier. Evon, last again, could clearly hear Terica,
confused and shaken, talking to herself just ahead of him.
тАЬBy the sky, itтАЩs just some clerical error,тАЭ she muttered. тАЬWhat was that all about?тАЭ
Evon paused on the other side of the portal and looked back.
The last thing he saw as the portal became opaque was Queekat Shn-dar walking slowly back to
Merinda Neskat who had begun sobbing into the floor.




┬й Copyright 1997 by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman / All Rights Reserved. Page 25
Chapter 5: Avenue of Diversion
Tentris was the home world of the DтАЩrakan empire, a much used and abused planet which its
grateful offspring had eventually allowed to retire gracefully in a repentant attempt to make up for all
the abuse they had heaped on it. The once fabled garden world which boasted a wonderfully temperate
climate in most of its five major land masses, Tentris had ultimately succumbed to the unfortunate
ravages of advancing pantheons of industry and technology. Its beautiful forests were decimated. ItтАЩs
mountains were stripped. ItтАЩs oceans were assaulted by both hunters and chemicals. Tentris had be-
come a failed parent; her children had not learned to take care of their mother. The ancient world
seemed ready to give up the ghost, to heave on great sigh against the life it had spawned and become
just another of the many cold chunks of lifeless and unspectacular rock that makes up so much of the
universe at large.
It was ironic, therefore, that those same toy-gods that her children had used to abuse Tentris for
so long should suddenly become her savior. Industry and technology gave to Tentris one great last gift.
Many of her children had thought that they could apply science to saving the biosphere by reengineering
nature. Each attempt failed. No, ultimately the resurrection of Tentris came from a completely unex-
pected science application.
The Tentrisans developed spaceflight.
TentrisтАЩ children left the nest and took their toy-gods with them.
The healing was natural, long and difficult. While occasionally helped or hindered by her well-
meaning children, it was ultimately up to the natural forces of the world to heal itself. Ages passed, the
Tentrisans met their brothers among the stars, the interstellar empire was formed and named after a
mythical creature called the DтАЩRakan that seemed to embody the ideals and dreams of the star-travelers
and Tentris rested.
At last, like all good children, the Tentrisans returned to honor their home and roots. They
found a healed world, once again rich and filled with abundant life. Yarka, the traditional capital city,
was carefully cleaned and rebuilt. The ancient Palace of the Unseen Mystery, the heart of the city that
was built in radiating streets from that central structure, was renovated to itтАЩs former glory. The major
avenues of Health, Harmony, Thought, Diversion, and Reflection terminated at five points in the an-
cient city, each with a different function and each newly restored. Even after the Imperial family was
politely evicted from the Palace of the Unseen Mystery by the Ruling Populist Councils in a bloodless
coup, the city remained at the symbolic heart of the people, its new burgeoning neighborhoods sprawl-
ing beyond the walls of the original city under careful control.
The Citadel itself was the terminus of the Avenue of Thought. Originally the structure had been
the Library and University campus for the mammoth city. Now it had been given over to the Omnet and

┬й Copyright 1997 by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman / All Rights Reserved. Page 26