[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"I'm not sure." He regretted having told her his pur-pose. He definitely did not want her to know what
his ultimate intent was. "I may have a clue. If it's wrong, well, I've been thinking. I can't let this become an
ob-session, doing the police's work for them. I may give up and come back to you."
Not if it really is a mistake, he thought. Then I'll keep on. But if it isn't They'll wonder in Munsing why
he suddenly left with an outsider, but they'll guess it was a personal matter. Maybe, come spring,
someone will find the body in a melting snowbank in the woods. But no one will likely make a fuss that
could bring detectives in from outside. They'll quietly dispose of the remains, without any serious
investigation.
Though I'd better not visit Forester country ever again.
"I haven't quite made up my mind," he said. "We'll see." The words felt slimy.
"I can hope," Wanika said. "Pedro Dover under arrest and you back here." Her mood faded. "You have
a message entered, waiting till it's given your where-abouts," she told him dully. "From Mars."
"Oh?" His heart jumped. "Just a minute." The phone in the room was reasonably capable, to
accommodate tourists. It could handle encryptions that weren't crack-proof quantum but adequate for
most communication. He set it to employ the code he and Kinna had agreed on. "Relay, please."
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"Yes," Wanika said. Her image vanished.
Fenn waited and wondered through a few seconds that stretched. When last he'd heard from Kinna, she
was not yet over her distress at the Republic's occupation of the Threedom. It had gone bloodlessly, and
so far the cities were peaceful. But the Inrai, the outlaws, had taken all their equipment, all their strength,
into the wilds. After they attacked several convoys, no ground traffic that wasn't strictly local moved in
Tharsis. Although the con-stabulary had refrained from counteraction and now re-lied entirely on air
transport, she feared for her Elverir.
Her image appeared, and his pulse sang. Between locks more tousled than usual, the pert face was alive
with eagerness and the gray eyes lambent. She quivered. Her voice torrented.
"Fenn, Fenn, the wildest thing; I've got to record it for you right away!
Elverir Scorian P-p-pmserpina " She caught her breath and laughed. "My tongue's too poky. The
news is overrunning it, on large, clattery feet. Let me try and get organized."
When she spoke again, it went fast but steadily. "Elverir he's back in Belgarre. Inrai aren't constantly
on patrol; they take awhile in the outback and then go home and carry on their daily lives another while.
They need to, and the outfit needs it, to keep supplies coming. And it makes it harder for the constables
to know who's involved and who isn't. That's even more so these days, with the Threedom under
occupation. I'm hoping Elverir can stay a good long time. Forever, if I had my wish. This is so horrible;
people of good will like my parents set against people who want freedom '' She swallowed. "I'm sorry.
I'm getting things all tumble-jumbled. I should leave off what matters most to me and stick to what
matters to you." A fleeting smile. "After all, it's you I'm talking at. And... and Fenn, what you care about,
I do too, because it's important and because it's you, trouvour " The blood ran high in her face. She
hurried on.
"Well, Elverir gave me the news. He had it from Scor-ian, the chief of the Inrai, insofar as they've got a
chief. It's supposed to be confidential, but I suspect Scorian knew Elverir would share it with me and
didn't actually forbid him to. I'd guess Scorian wouldn't mind word getting to the Lahui Kuikawa, for
whatever they may try to do about it. But he'd rather the Synesis not know that you know. That's my
guess."
She looked straight out of the screen. He half reached forth, blindly, as if to take her hands.
"Fenn," she said, "a ship from Alpha Centauri is ap-proaching Proserpina."
Thunders rolled through his skull.
After another moment she proceeded, as calmly now as he would have expected of one who'd spent her
life coping with a planet that wanted to stay dead. "The Lu-narians at Centauri must've beamed word
when it left, so the Proserpinans had a lot of years' advance notice. I s'pose the Synesis well, the
cybercosm, anyway detected it some time ago, radiation from the shock wave in the interstellar gas
and so on, but hasn't said anything public, for whatever reason. The Proserpinans think it, the cybercosm,
would've intercepted the ship if it could, but didn't have anything on hand that was able to. Maybe all the
superspeed craft are away off exploring among the stars, like we're'told they are. Or maybe the
accusation is untrue and unfair. I do wish the cybercosm would tell us more, don't you? Chuan says it
tells us as much as is wise, but "
Fenn thought that the fact the Proserpinans knew the ship was coming would suffice to stay the
cybercosm's hand.
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"Well," Kinna continued. "The reason why the Proserpinans think this, and why they've suddenly let the
Inrai know. Ordinarily they wouldn't have, that's not in Lunarian nature. But the nearness of the new craft,
and ideas they've meanwhile been swapping back and forth with the Centaurians, that's led them to
wonder mightily about what the great secret is that a solar lens has dis-covered. They're convinced it is a
secret, a fact, not just a scientific puzzle, and means something tremendous. That sounds reasonable to
me. Why shouldn't a puzzle be published?" A pang crossed her countenance. "And dear old Chuan, the
way he's kind of flinched whenever the subject came up between us and right away changed it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl wyciskamy.pev.pl
"I'm not sure." He regretted having told her his pur-pose. He definitely did not want her to know what
his ultimate intent was. "I may have a clue. If it's wrong, well, I've been thinking. I can't let this become an
ob-session, doing the police's work for them. I may give up and come back to you."
Not if it really is a mistake, he thought. Then I'll keep on. But if it isn't They'll wonder in Munsing why
he suddenly left with an outsider, but they'll guess it was a personal matter. Maybe, come spring,
someone will find the body in a melting snowbank in the woods. But no one will likely make a fuss that
could bring detectives in from outside. They'll quietly dispose of the remains, without any serious
investigation.
Though I'd better not visit Forester country ever again.
"I haven't quite made up my mind," he said. "We'll see." The words felt slimy.
"I can hope," Wanika said. "Pedro Dover under arrest and you back here." Her mood faded. "You have
a message entered, waiting till it's given your where-abouts," she told him dully. "From Mars."
"Oh?" His heart jumped. "Just a minute." The phone in the room was reasonably capable, to
accommodate tourists. It could handle encryptions that weren't crack-proof quantum but adequate for
most communication. He set it to employ the code he and Kinna had agreed on. "Relay, please."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Yes," Wanika said. Her image vanished.
Fenn waited and wondered through a few seconds that stretched. When last he'd heard from Kinna, she
was not yet over her distress at the Republic's occupation of the Threedom. It had gone bloodlessly, and
so far the cities were peaceful. But the Inrai, the outlaws, had taken all their equipment, all their strength,
into the wilds. After they attacked several convoys, no ground traffic that wasn't strictly local moved in
Tharsis. Although the con-stabulary had refrained from counteraction and now re-lied entirely on air
transport, she feared for her Elverir.
Her image appeared, and his pulse sang. Between locks more tousled than usual, the pert face was alive
with eagerness and the gray eyes lambent. She quivered. Her voice torrented.
"Fenn, Fenn, the wildest thing; I've got to record it for you right away!
Elverir Scorian P-p-pmserpina " She caught her breath and laughed. "My tongue's too poky. The
news is overrunning it, on large, clattery feet. Let me try and get organized."
When she spoke again, it went fast but steadily. "Elverir he's back in Belgarre. Inrai aren't constantly
on patrol; they take awhile in the outback and then go home and carry on their daily lives another while.
They need to, and the outfit needs it, to keep supplies coming. And it makes it harder for the constables
to know who's involved and who isn't. That's even more so these days, with the Threedom under
occupation. I'm hoping Elverir can stay a good long time. Forever, if I had my wish. This is so horrible;
people of good will like my parents set against people who want freedom '' She swallowed. "I'm sorry.
I'm getting things all tumble-jumbled. I should leave off what matters most to me and stick to what
matters to you." A fleeting smile. "After all, it's you I'm talking at. And... and Fenn, what you care about,
I do too, because it's important and because it's you, trouvour " The blood ran high in her face. She
hurried on.
"Well, Elverir gave me the news. He had it from Scor-ian, the chief of the Inrai, insofar as they've got a
chief. It's supposed to be confidential, but I suspect Scorian knew Elverir would share it with me and
didn't actually forbid him to. I'd guess Scorian wouldn't mind word getting to the Lahui Kuikawa, for
whatever they may try to do about it. But he'd rather the Synesis not know that you know. That's my
guess."
She looked straight out of the screen. He half reached forth, blindly, as if to take her hands.
"Fenn," she said, "a ship from Alpha Centauri is ap-proaching Proserpina."
Thunders rolled through his skull.
After another moment she proceeded, as calmly now as he would have expected of one who'd spent her
life coping with a planet that wanted to stay dead. "The Lu-narians at Centauri must've beamed word
when it left, so the Proserpinans had a lot of years' advance notice. I s'pose the Synesis well, the
cybercosm, anyway detected it some time ago, radiation from the shock wave in the interstellar gas
and so on, but hasn't said anything public, for whatever reason. The Proserpinans think it, the cybercosm,
would've intercepted the ship if it could, but didn't have anything on hand that was able to. Maybe all the
superspeed craft are away off exploring among the stars, like we're'told they are. Or maybe the
accusation is untrue and unfair. I do wish the cybercosm would tell us more, don't you? Chuan says it
tells us as much as is wise, but "
Fenn thought that the fact the Proserpinans knew the ship was coming would suffice to stay the
cybercosm's hand.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Well," Kinna continued. "The reason why the Proserpinans think this, and why they've suddenly let the
Inrai know. Ordinarily they wouldn't have, that's not in Lunarian nature. But the nearness of the new craft,
and ideas they've meanwhile been swapping back and forth with the Centaurians, that's led them to
wonder mightily about what the great secret is that a solar lens has dis-covered. They're convinced it is a
secret, a fact, not just a scientific puzzle, and means something tremendous. That sounds reasonable to
me. Why shouldn't a puzzle be published?" A pang crossed her countenance. "And dear old Chuan, the
way he's kind of flinched whenever the subject came up between us and right away changed it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]