"Timothy Zahn - Spinneret" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)
Allerton looked up to meet Klein's and Hamill's hardening expressions. The shift
flash represented wasted energy тАж and the lower-energy red burst meant the
newcomer had a drive far more advanced than anything on Earth. "Full military
alert," the President ordered quietly. "Worldwide. Prepare for possible invasion.
I'll be down there shortly to take charge." He signed off. The two military men,
still talking into their own phones, were already heading for the door. Thumbing
the White House operator, Allerton got to his feet and followed. "Get me the
Kremlin, Chinese Premier Sing, and UN Secretary-General SalehтАФconference
call, scramble, and rush it."
The long star ship drifted delicately into high Earth orbit shortly afterward, stifling
the Soviets' official disbelief and touching off near-panic all across the globe. But
the end of the world didn't come on the anticipated schedule. Instead, the alien
briefly blanketed the airline radio frequencies with a message, in passable English,
requesting a conversation with Earth's leadership.
Considering the norm of international politics, the response to that call was
remarkably swift.
" тАж We welcome you on behalf of the Security Council, the United Nations, and
the entire Earth. We look forward to the mutual exchange of knowledge and
culture, and to a growth of true friendship between our peoples."
Zahn, Timothy - Spinneret
Secretary-General Hammad Ali Saleh sat down in his chair at the head of the
semicircular table and reached thankfully for the water glass at his elbow. He
hadn't been this nervous in thirty-five years, not since the Iran-Iraq border wars of
the eighties. Then, he'd been a young Yemeni volunteer recognizing on an
emotional level that the shells dropping out of the sky could kill him very dead.
Now, his position was uncomfortably similar. No one knew why the alien wanted
to talk to mankind's leaders, but the Celeritas's experience suggested the answer
might not be a pleasant one. Certainly the superpowers thought so; all three had
voted in favor of letting the UN take the hot seat. Point man, stalking horse тАж the
expendable ones. Sipping his ice water carefully, Saleh consciously relaxed his
jaw and waited.
"The Ctencri greet you in response," the voice came abruptly. "It is ever an honor
to welcome a new people into space. Your race has advanced greatly in the eight
hundred years since you were last studied. It is hoped that we may find a solid
base for trade and mutual profit."
Something in Saleh's chest seemed to loosen up slightly. Trade and profit were
business, not political, terms. Was this, then, merely a trading expedition? Saleh
couldn't decide whether he would feel relieved or annoyed if the Ctencri
government had indeed left their first contact with Earth to the aliens' version of
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