"Timothy Zahn - Spinneret" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

"All right," Meredith said after a moment. "Get busy on that analysis; I'm
grounding the other two flyers until you find out what went wrong."

"Yes, sir. I'm тАж sorry, Colonel." Saluting, the captain strode off toward the
hangar.

I'm sorry, too, Meredith thought as he turned and trudged toward the docks. Their
first full day on Astra, and already he'd lost two men. That's really showing the
scoffers, Meredith. For an encore, maybe I could shoot myself in the foot.

Three of the five hovercraft were bobbing gently beside the dock; Meredith passed
them up in favor of a small motorboat. Casting off, he headed at half throttle
toward the narrow entrance to Splayfoot Bay. By now the death certificates would
be waiting on his terminal at Unie, and his stomach tightened anew at the thought
of filling them out. He'd never been able to stoically accept death in his
commands, not even as a line officer in the Honduras conflict where he'd faced it
every other day. His years of desk riding, he was now discovering, hadn't made
him any better at seeing human beings as faceless numbers. Damn the Ctencri,
anyway, he thought, twisting the tiller hard as he steered around a half-submerged
rock. If it turns out to be a manufacturing fault, I'll twist their silly crests together.

He was just turning into the five-kilometer-long inlet leading to Unie when his
phone buzzed. "Meredith," he answered.

"Colonel, this is Major Dunlop," the caller said, his voice barely audible over the
engine noise. "I think we've got a riot brewing here in Ceres."

Meredith cut back the throttle. "Explain."


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Zahn, Timothy - Spinneret


"About a hundred of the Hispanic field workers have gathered in front of the
admin building and are yelling something about better housing and recreation
facilities. I've got my men in riot-control position, but I haven't got nearly enough
of them if things turn ugly. Can you possibly send me another thirty or so troops?"

"Have you tried talking to them?" Meredith countered.

"Sir, if I open the door, they're likely to pour in before we can stop them."

Meredith grimaced, but the reply was not unexpected. Dunlop was a competent
administrator, but the finer points of diplomacy and compromise were far beyond
him. Spraying the crowd with stunner fire would be much more his style, and that
was the last thing Meredith needed right now. "All right, then, just stay put," he
told the other. "I'm a few minutes out from Unie; I'll have a team waiting and we'll
drive up there as soon as I get in. Do nor attempt riot procedures unless there is an