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

The chair slammed hard into Korczak's spine and a dull roar rattled his teeth.
"Shift, Civardi!" he managed. "Get us out of here!"

And, for a miracle, the equipment worked. Safe in the blackness of hyperspace,
the Celeritas limped toward home.

"I don't believe it." President John Kennedy Allerton shook his head, laying down
the report. "Fifteen reasonably Earthlike worlds, and every one already occupied?"

General James Klein shrugged. "I agree it's pretty hard to swallow, but the
Pathfinder's films can't be argued with." He hesitated. "I've also heard that the
ESA's Celeritas showed signs of damage when it got back early this morning, so
I'd guess they ran into them, too."

Allerton pursed his lips tightly. "If that's true we'll want an immediate meeting to
compare notes. Probably better bring the Soviets and Chinese in on it, too. An
alien race hemming us in on all sides isn't something we can afford to play politics
with. I suppose we should tell the UN, too."

Admiral Davis Hamill snorted. "The Russians won't believe a word of it, at least
not until they get their own firsthand data, and Chinese security is so lax these
days that if we tell them, we might as well broadcast it to the Islamic
Confederation and the Africans. I can just hear what they'd say."

Allerton smiled faintly. "You take the tirades at the UN too seriously, Dave. The
Third World may think we're the cause of all their problems, but there's really no
way they can blame Project Homestead's failure on us."

"They can blame us for alerting the aliens that we're here, though," Klein pointed
out.

"Oh, come onтАФthey surely already know we're here. They surround us, for

file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Des...p/Zahn,%20Timothy%20-%20Spinneret%20[v1.1].html (7 of 309) [2/1/2004 3:54:12 AM]
Zahn, Timothy - Spinneret


heaven's sake. If they wanted to fight they would've moved in years ago."

"What about the Celeritas"?" Klein objected.

"What about the Pathfinder! The aliens let them go."

Klein's rejoinder was lost in the simultaneous buzz of all three men's phones.
Twisting his wrist to point the directional speaker at his face, Allerton clicked the
switch. "Allerton."

"Situation room," a tense voice answered. "Sir, we've picked up a flash of light
from a point near Mars orbit. We think it's a star ship тАж except that the flash was
red, not blue-white."