[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
fellow Pyrran and the dying offworlder.
She raised her good arm and chopped down with the edge of her hand.
It caught Skop a hard blow on the biceps and his arm jumped spasmodically, his
hand leaping from Jason's throat.
Page 82
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"What are you doing!" he shouted in strange terror to the wounded girl who
fell against him. He pushed her away, still clutching Jason with his other
hand. She didn't answer. Instead she chopped again hard and true, the edge of
her hand catching
Skop across the windpipe crushing it. He dropped Jason and fell to the floor,
retching an gasping.
Jason watched the end through a haze, barely conscious.
Skop struggled to his feet, turned pain-filled eyes to his friend "You're
wrong," Kerk said. "Don't do it."
The sound the wounded man made was more animal than human. When he dived
toward the guns on the far side of the room, the crossbows twanged like harps
of death. He skidded into the guns, his hand knocking them aside, but he was
already dead.
When Brucco went over to help Meta, no one interfered. Jason gasped air back
into his lungs, breathing in life. The watching glass eye of the viewer
carried the scene to everyone in the city.
"Thanks, Meta... for understanding... as well as helping." Jason had to force
the words out.
"Skop was wrong and you were right, Jason," she said. Her voice broke for a
second as Brucco snapped off the feathered end of the steel be with his
fingers, and pulled the shaft out of her arm. "I can't stay in the city; only
people who feel as Skop did will be able to do this. And I'm afraid I can't go
into the forest-you saw what luck I had with the stingwing. If it's all right,
I'd like to come with you. I'd like to very much."
It hurt when he talked so Jason could only smile, but she knew what he meant.
Kerk looked down in unhappiness at the body of the dead man. "He was wrong-but
I know how he felt. I can't leave the city, not yet. Someone will have to keep
things in hand while the changes are taking place. Your ship is a good idea,
Jason, you'll have no shortage of volunteers. Though I doubt if you'll get
Brucco to go with you."
"Of course not," Brucco snapped, not looking up from the compression bandage
he was tying. "There's enough to do right here on Pyrrus. The animal life,
quite a study to be made, probably have every ecologist in the galaxy visiting
here before long. But I'll be first."
Kerk walked slowly to the screen overlooking the city. No one attempted to
stop him. He looked out at the buildings, the smoke still curling up from the
perimeter, and the limitless sweep of green jungle beyond.
"You've changed it all, Jason," he said. "We can't see it now, but Pyrrus will
never be the way it was before you came. For better or worse."
"Better, damn it, better," Jason croaked, and rubbed his aching throat. "Now
get together and end this war so people will really believe it."
Rhes turned and, after an instant's hesitation, extended his hand to Kerk. The
grey-haired Pyrran felt the same repugnance himself about touching a grubber,
the memory of a lifetime of disgust.
But they shook hands then because they were both strong men.
Page 83 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl wyciskamy.pev.pl
fellow Pyrran and the dying offworlder.
She raised her good arm and chopped down with the edge of her hand.
It caught Skop a hard blow on the biceps and his arm jumped spasmodically, his
hand leaping from Jason's throat.
Page 82
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"What are you doing!" he shouted in strange terror to the wounded girl who
fell against him. He pushed her away, still clutching Jason with his other
hand. She didn't answer. Instead she chopped again hard and true, the edge of
her hand catching
Skop across the windpipe crushing it. He dropped Jason and fell to the floor,
retching an gasping.
Jason watched the end through a haze, barely conscious.
Skop struggled to his feet, turned pain-filled eyes to his friend "You're
wrong," Kerk said. "Don't do it."
The sound the wounded man made was more animal than human. When he dived
toward the guns on the far side of the room, the crossbows twanged like harps
of death. He skidded into the guns, his hand knocking them aside, but he was
already dead.
When Brucco went over to help Meta, no one interfered. Jason gasped air back
into his lungs, breathing in life. The watching glass eye of the viewer
carried the scene to everyone in the city.
"Thanks, Meta... for understanding... as well as helping." Jason had to force
the words out.
"Skop was wrong and you were right, Jason," she said. Her voice broke for a
second as Brucco snapped off the feathered end of the steel be with his
fingers, and pulled the shaft out of her arm. "I can't stay in the city; only
people who feel as Skop did will be able to do this. And I'm afraid I can't go
into the forest-you saw what luck I had with the stingwing. If it's all right,
I'd like to come with you. I'd like to very much."
It hurt when he talked so Jason could only smile, but she knew what he meant.
Kerk looked down in unhappiness at the body of the dead man. "He was wrong-but
I know how he felt. I can't leave the city, not yet. Someone will have to keep
things in hand while the changes are taking place. Your ship is a good idea,
Jason, you'll have no shortage of volunteers. Though I doubt if you'll get
Brucco to go with you."
"Of course not," Brucco snapped, not looking up from the compression bandage
he was tying. "There's enough to do right here on Pyrrus. The animal life,
quite a study to be made, probably have every ecologist in the galaxy visiting
here before long. But I'll be first."
Kerk walked slowly to the screen overlooking the city. No one attempted to
stop him. He looked out at the buildings, the smoke still curling up from the
perimeter, and the limitless sweep of green jungle beyond.
"You've changed it all, Jason," he said. "We can't see it now, but Pyrrus will
never be the way it was before you came. For better or worse."
"Better, damn it, better," Jason croaked, and rubbed his aching throat. "Now
get together and end this war so people will really believe it."
Rhes turned and, after an instant's hesitation, extended his hand to Kerk. The
grey-haired Pyrran felt the same repugnance himself about touching a grubber,
the memory of a lifetime of disgust.
But they shook hands then because they were both strong men.
Page 83 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]