"Timothy Zahn - Cobra 2 - Cobra Strike" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

emeritus was supposed to perform or at least put up with. "Lean on the latter two especiallyтАФI
don't know how the spine leopards figure out their numbers are down, but their breeding rate sure
shows that they know somehow. Make sure even the densest syndics understand that we can't take on
a full-scale spine leopard resurgence and also make any headway on Caelian without lowering the
standards at the Cobra factory."
COBRA STRIKE 3
A frown flickered across Corwin's face. "Speaking of the academy...." He stopped, looking
uncomfortable.
Jonny closed his eyes briefly. "Justin. Right?"
"Well ... yes. Mom wanted me to try and get you to change your mind about using your Council veto
on his application."
"To what end?" Jonny sighed. "Justin is smart, exceptionally stable emotionally, adaptable, and
with a strong desire to serve his world this way. You'll forgive a father's pride, I trust."


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"I know all thatтАФ"
"More to the point," Jonny inturrupted, "he's 22 years old and has been wanting to be a Cobra
since he was 16. A period, you'll notice, in which he's had ample opportunity to mull over exactly
what a few decades of Cobra gear does to a man." He raised his hands slightly as if offering his
body for inspection. "If that hasn't dampened his resolveтАФand the tests show it hasn'tтАФthen I'm
not about to veto his admission. He's exactly the kind of man we need in the Cobras."
Corwin waved a hand in a gesture of defeat. "I almost wish I could argue with you, for Mom's sake.
But I'm afraid I have to agree."
Jonny looked out the window. "Your mother's had a lot of this kind of pain in her life. I wish I
knew how to make it up to her."
For a long moment the room was silent. Then Corwin stirred, reaching for his comboard. "Spine
leopards and Caelian it is, then," he said, standing up. "You going to be here or the therapy room
when the meeting's over?"
Jonny looked back at his eldest son, grimacing. "You had to bring that up, didn't you? Oh, all
right; I'll go make the torturers happy. What's left of me will be back here by the time you're
through."
Corwin nodded. "Okay. But be nice to themтАФthey're just trying to do their jobs."
4 Timothy Zahn
"Sure. See you later." Jonny waited until the other had closed the door behind him and then
snorted. "Their jobs, indeed," he muttered under his breath. "Bunch of experimentalists poking
around with human white-rats." All in hope that they could come up with a therapy that would
someday be able to help the rising generations of Cobras.
One of whom was going to be his own son.
Sighing, Jonny gripped the arms of his chair and got carefully to his feet. He would get outside
to his car on his own, and without his pills, even if it killed him. The old man, as he was fond
of saying, wasn't helpless yet.
Even with traffic in the Cobra Worlds' capital as dense as it was these days, it would be only a
ten-minute drive to the Dominion Building for the Council meeting. Corwin nevertheless gathered
together his magcards and other paraphernalia as quickly as possible, hoping to get there early
enough for some cloakroom soundboarding with the other Council members. His father had left for
his therapy session, and Corwin was about ready to leave himself, when his mother came in.
"Hello, Theron," she smiled at Yutu. "Corwin, is your father still here?"