Janet Edwards

Earth Star


Скачать книгу

lethally savage.’

      ‘That’s what happened on K19448?’

      ‘Yes,’ said Drago. ‘We can’t instantly abandon every planet that goes into a behaviour event, or we wouldn’t have any colony worlds. By the time you know exactly what’s happening, things can be serious. On K19448, a widespread winged herbivore suddenly turned into a carnivore soldier species and …’

      ‘I see,’ I said.

      Drago hesitated. ‘I don’t know if it helps, but K19448 is on the salvage list. Planet First teams will be going back there.’

      ‘What will they do?’

      ‘Globally exterminate the problem species, after which there’s every chance K19448 will become a new colony world for Kappa sector. The ecologists complain about global exterminations, but they’re sometimes necessary to make the inhabited continent safe. We have to remember civilizations can run into trouble. After Exodus century, we nearly lost portal technology entirely, protective measures failed on some planets and dangerous species reached their inhabited continents. It took over a hundred years to clear up the mess, and we don’t want it happening again.’

      I pictured my parents trying to retreat to the portals, and being mobbed by winged creatures with teeth and claws capable of ripping through protective impact suits. ‘I like animals, but …’

      Drago nodded. ‘Tellon Blaze said it during the Thetis disaster. Any ecologist who wants to cry over the chimera being exterminated should be locked up in a room with one.’

      ‘I’d like K19448 to become a colony world,’ I said. ‘I know my parents served on other Planet First assignments, and some of those worlds are being colonized, but they died on this one so …’

      I broke off, having a nardle emotional moment. Every world in the sectors had its memorial to the Military who made it safe for colonization. One day, people might live on K19448, hold solemn ceremonies at the memorial every Founders Day, and name their settlements after my parents.

      Drago gave an understanding nod, and abruptly switched his attention to Fian. ‘You’re wearing the Earth Star, Captain Eklund, so you helped with the Solar 5 rescue as well.’

      Fian nodded. ‘Jarra and I were students working on the New York Dig Site. We signed up for our Twoing contract during the solar super storm.’

      ‘I didn’t realize you were Twoing,’ said Drago. ‘You don’t wear rings.’

      I saw the irritation on Fian’s face, and urgently forced my emotions back under control. ‘We haven’t got around to getting them yet.’

      I glanced at Drago’s multitude of medals, looking for an excuse to change the subject. The first of them looked a bit like the Thetis, but it was an odd rectangular shape that was entirely wrong for any medal I knew. I skipped on to the next, which was the traditional disc shape and showed a comet image. ‘Isn’t that the Hera? You were in the comet blockade?’

      Drago groaned. ‘Extremely briefly. I was fresh from training, the idiot raw recruit on your brother Jaxon’s team, and I crashed my fighter in the first wave. Incredibly embarrassing. Asteroid one, Drago nil. I knocked myself about a bit in the crash, so of course they gave me a medal. Now I can never live it down.’

      ‘You’re in the Attack team now, flying a fighter?’ I asked, eagerly.

      He nodded. ‘I’m leading second shift. We launch at nine, and it takes us half an hour to crawl at an unthreatening pace into our positions and relieve the first shift. We’re main attack for four hours, then third shift relieve us and we dawdle back out to the portals again.’

      ‘Where do you launch from? Earth Africa solar array?’

      ‘No. We launch from here.’

      I heard Fian mutter something, but I ignored him. ‘Zan! Fighters can fly in atmosphere?’

      Drago laughed. ‘We’re flying ones designed for space. I wouldn’t want to do anything fancy with them in a gravity pit, but all we have to do is take them off the ground on hovers and dive straight through a portal into orbit.’

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAgkAAAMgCAIAAAAm1GblAAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAH aWlDQ1BQaG90b3Nob3AgSUNDIHByb2ZpbGUAAHjalZVZVJMHHsX/35KVkEAIEJDlg7AbSEBkFQqE VfZVwJUkHxAJJCZhq2LpqIjiAlYsVRAVpI4riFAcl0pFK+JYgQq44AZapVgVR9SplnngzLEvnXPm Pv3OPee/PN0LQOcFh4aEoUEA+QU6TVJECJGekUnQhgEDFJhAA+csmVYNfy0EYHoIEACAQVdplERS n+958Fhz2DQvv641kcXNh/8thkyt0QFQewCgV05qZQC0agBYV6xT6wDgJQDwNClJEgAEB6Csz/kT S//EmvSMTABqJQDwcma5HgB40lluBQBeekYmMXv208+yQk3RrIeeBQAmGIM1uIAnBEIUJMNSyAUN lMFGqIF6aIFWOAOX4AbchnF4Ae8RDGEjfESAuCLeSAgSgyxCspA8pAgpRzYjtUgjchg5hZxHepFB ZBR5ikwhH1EaaohaoA6oGPVHw9AENBMlUTW6Gq1Aa9B69BDajn6P9qHD6Bj6Av2A0TFjzBYTYQuw KCwNk2Ma7AtsK7YHO4x1YZexm9g49hpHcUPcBhfjQXgCvgJX4+V4Db4fP4lfxH/GH+NvKXSKOUVI CaQkUGSUQkolZQ/lOKWbcpPylPKBakC1o/pQY6lZ1CJqFXUftYPaR31AnaaxaAKaLy2elk0ro+2k HaVdpN2hvabr0QV0f3oKPZ9eQW+kd9EH6JMMKoNg+DFSGSrGZsZBRjfjLuMdk8cUM2OZCmYFs4l5 gXmP+buemZ63XqqeTm+HXpveDb2XLA5LxIpnqVjbWa2sftaUvpH+fP00/RL93frn9O+zUbY9O4qt ZFezT7FH2B85NpxwTh6nhtPJuWuAGjgZxBsUGTQY9BhMGhoZ+hvKDbcYdhje49K47txM7nruce4t I9xIZJRptMGozWiUx+B58WS8at453oQx3zjcWGfcZDxggpiITVaYVJtcMHlpamOaZLrOtMP0Cd+M H80v47fyx8xMzRaarTVrN/vF3MI80bzC/Kz51BynOcvn1M65ZoFb+FtoLY5YjFtaWqZZbrfstcKs AqyKrU5aPbd2tpZb77MeJcyINOIrot+GYxNrU2Vz1ZZhG2lbaXtFQBdECTYJ+uxYdnF21XYD9sb2 6fZ77O87CBxyHI46vHL0clzj+IMT3SnOqdbprrOds9L5lPMHlzCXbS4jc23nKud2ChFhjLBOOOYq dl3j2utm4iZza3ObEcWJGkSTYn9xlfiuu9C9zP26B+Gh8eiZZzpv5bxznoaepOfp+ez5svldXmwv udcZb663wvuCD99nlU+vr63vGt8hP7HfZr/H/kH+9f7vFqQsaAtgB+QF9AY6BlYEPv4s9LPmIDxI HnQp2CG4MngiJCbkhIQrKZTcCg0IPRBGC8sPGwj3CW+MoEbkR9yMDIhsieJElUQ9WhizsDPaJnpL 9LsYeUx/bEDskTh+XEXcm3h5/GCCJKE9UZC4M4maVJw0kbwk+aeUkJTOVJfUxjRe2ua0mUVFiybT 5el3MpIz+jJDM88v9l7ctkS45Nultkv3LjNf9vVy3vKaFZwV27JYWVuketIqGUu2Vc6WV5Ncsjab n12fQ+Q05zrnnlB4Ks6sDF55JS8hb0SZpXyWr83/WLBRxVU1qJ3VHauCV13XLNFMaEt0NN2uQofC zqKIopFiRfGHkm2lNqUdn0d+Prpas4a2pqFsXtnVtVlr339RU+5SfvHLJV9O/61mnXDdj+tlG2BD Q4VfxcjG4krjyo5NqZvebN5V5V11a8vqrVZbu7eR2xnbj1cnV7+vadwRvuP5V7U7A3Y+qd2+y3fX 2Ndb63zrxr+p2R2we2JPXX14/ZuG5r0pjXhjx76c/fz9fQfKmtybHjd/czCuBWs5/a36kOOhe3/f dTj+CP1I99HVx7yOvTp+7ISi1aF1rG3/yeXtVu2jpxo6lnVadT747kAXedrp9K//aD2jO+t7dubc 5fNbvk+5YHFhvPvYD8UXg3tYPcOXmi6rflxwhXFluLflamFf2DXja0/++d31TT8tvuHWj/YPDRwe LP859aZwCBu6PXxypOqW/HbgHf6d13evjx6+t/G+/EHIQ+LhzKN7Y+fHGx+XP5H+EvrU8Rnz2W8T g792Te59vv63vBfJL/1f2U3pT719/fBf1950TTe/rXm39r3y34t/X/jB76PLH3Nm9GdmPuVySwlA 4h8AAJ88150AuwkAw6WfPNteAKNHAN03dGSJDgBAolKXahQ5uTrCSeJMeIjF3oS0lJColCoNkaxS FuoUqgKtkAhWKokkRU6uTkskkVpSU0TK3YgYhYws0JKEnNRlKZRaQpZVQEhJIltVWCAnVAV+RK5O p/YTiYqLi91ImcJNpckRkTKFiCwQkTJFUkSImzpXzRQQyaSSlOlIuZCQFuqIApWOyFfJFdkKUi4k pKVEZJZGTWokKqVSUaAlEgqlSoU2l9RoidRoQgAAMNt/AADAjpQkELPLiSKP/7alPkSCBBKAABJk oIAkiIAQIKAIPP5q5P/VfwBbvqbpOzxixQAAACBjSFJNAACHCgAAjA0AAQW3AACA6AAAUgUAARVb AAA2rwAAH0EC0NxpAAeauUlEQVR42uz9SbNkW3YeiK1mN6fz5vrt4kbEexGvy5cvOyQIsAFRVWRZ kcVGkmkg00gDDTTXVH+hrGQyk8ZlMs00o5kkk0wyUUUTVRQhFgAi0Wfmy3x99Lfz7jR777WWBvfd QCRBJBpmAolkfHYtzMOvu9/jZ5+zv73W+ta3EV7jz4M5UgIbzX7MazzAsWs7jm/PZmex+7dXj367 v375q3+4+OBeffzb208eT5dflN2K/T9afvtdt1zD1UWevpcukNz74U4D2jKh+axiPBWgKfO/2P7h p3n7ehT+vPibswdnzeL//fz3KhfI7J3u5G/f/fqD+R14nsURHoRfe/bb/+yT3xAAAvjVk/f+8Vd+ 5XJ38b//3X9+LemPf9q7s+W3T9/+zUff/3jYvT63r/HzCvf6FPzZ0RH958uHv78//8G0+TEvi4i/ 0N1/qz0j2nXazHAP8CU31EijTRNOX1+89XY++39c/IaCMXIk8hpNc8e1cx5BEdSQGagiAoIeZbRE ZB0iAOx+LDn9lYMADOBn5BAX5O9Uq9o1787OHixO+7Q7qGZN8FfDrh2dVNkBROcBAAFqgMpXNTWL UGrnX3IDAhAAAix99Ut33r/bHf2u+/j1HfEar7nhP2p4QARIYKcuvlHf+W