[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Killeen watched the approach of the station. He stood with his back to the
assembling crew and peered through the forward port.
Their trajectory ahead was clear. Argo was coming down to fly parallel to the
station's great circular plain, skimmed along it by unseen forces. Shibo could
do nothing with Argo's helm.
He allowed himself a smile of self-derision. His proud show of decisiveness
had come to nothing. Jocelyn's cagey--and insubordinate cgging on of the crew,
and her public disagreement, had angered him. She had taken advantage of the
Family context to attack his piloting decisions. Now, ironically, her whetting
of appetites for action served his purposes.
He had to rouse the crew for an assault that promised little success. They
were going in against unknown opponents, across a mechtech terrain they had
never seen the likes of before. Hard-learned
Family tactics would mean nothing here perhaps worse than nothing, for they
might well be exactly the wrong thing to do.
The swelling disk below revealed its silvery intricacies as he watched. At
their present speed, blunted somehow by the station as they approached, it
would take over an hour to reach the central tower. If that was their
destination, he had time to carry out the ruse he had planned. If not, there
was a surprise squad set at a spot mechs would probably not anticipate.
Killeen wore his full ceremonial tunic of blue and gold over his gray
coverall, and a full belt of tools and weapons beneath that.
38
TIDES OF LIGHT
39
He would waste no time changing if events interrupted the ceremony. Battle
Page 27
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
squads were poised at every small lock of the ship, ready to pour forth on
signal. The remaining crew, gathered here, were for effect. Killeen had no way
of knowing if whatever ran the station had already planted bugs on the hull,
listeners powerful enough to pick up conversation. But he had to allow that
this might be true, and use it against the enemy if he could.
Ahead, the scintillant, perfectly circular disk filled half the sky.
Phosphorescent waves spiraled inward on the disk, their troughs brimming
silver, their peaks moving rims of gold. The lumines-cence hovered like a fog
over the actual metalwork of the disk.
Arcs formed at the disk's rim, where they washed and fretted in random
rivulets.
Somehow this chaos resolved itself into distinct waves which grew and glowed
with each undulation, oozing inward to join a whirlpool that twisted with
majestic deliberation toward the towering spike at the disk center. That
bristly central axis harvested the inward-racing waves in a spray of rainbow
glory as they hammered against its ribbed base.
Jutting above and below the disk, the light-encrusted central tower tapered
away, many kilometers long. Web antennae bristled
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt (42 of 373) [5/21/03 1:01:56 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt along it. One end of the tower poked into a vapor of forking flux that
burned steadily, silent and ivory against the backdrop of a passing dustcloud.
The other ended in a burnished stub.
The waves seemed to be drawing Argo down in a long, scalloping glide across
the circular plain. Bulkheads crackled and the deck rippled in sluggish,
muscular grace, like something roused from sleep. Killeen fretted about how
much of such flexing the ship could take.
Shibo said to him quietly, so the gathering Family behind them could not hear,
"Lie doggo?"
"A little longer. Looks like whatever's bringing us in is taking no other
precautions."
"Maybe it thinks we're a mech ship?"
"Hope so." Killeen watched luminous discharges warp and merge in the plain
beyond. He had the sensation of skating over a huge sea, and remembered the
time he had spent in a place like this--the interior digital world of the
Mantis, a great gray ocean of the mind.
"What now?" she prompted.
"We zag against their zig."
He turned when he sensed the room become still. Lieutenants
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xt (43 of 373) [5/21/03 1:01:56 AM]
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xt
40
Gregory Benford
Cermo and Jocelyn had ranked and ordered the Family into lines precise and
attentive.
This was the atmosphere he wanted, had carefully programmed.
Here, he reflected, was all of humanity he would probably ever know again. The
nearest brothers were back at Snowglade, an unfathomable distance behind. For
all he knew, this small band might well be the only shred of their race that
yet lived.
"Dad? Uh, Cap'n?"
He turned, startled, to find Toby at his elbow. "You're out of ranks,
midshipman," he said severely.
Page 28
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Yeah, but I gotta carry this damn thing, and it's 'cause a you." Toby twisted
his neck uncomfortably at the cowling that wrapped around his shoulders, snug
against his helmet ring.
"You'll carry your designated 'quipment into battle," Killeen said stiffly.
"This'11 just slow me down!"
"It will give us a good view of all the action around and in front of you.
Someone has to carry the area-survey eye." Killeen used the connective words
of and to, which were absent in ordinary
Family speech, to lend distance and Cap'nly reserve.
It failed to work with Toby. "You got me saddled with this, right?"
"Lieutenant Cermo chooses gear."
Toby sneered. "He knew just what you wanted."
"Cermo assigns jobs, picks the most able," Killeen said tightly.
"I'm proud that he deemed my son capable of such an important job."
"Dad, I'll be a slow target with this rig on, crawlin' 'round down there. I'll
get pushed back to the second skirmish line."
"Damn right. I'll want views from the second line, not the first."
"That's not fair! I want--"
"You'll get back in rank or else you won't set boot outside,"
Killeen said sharply.
Toby opened his mouth to protest and the Cap'n spat back, ,,Now.r'
Toby shrugged elaborately and marched stiffly back to his position in the
third left-flank squad. He stood beside Besen, the dark-eyed young woman;
Killeen often saw them together these days. True, they served in the same
squad, but that probably concealed more than it explained.
Killeen hoped the Family had not overheard them and thought
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt (44 of 373) [5/21/03 1:01:56 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt
TIDES OF LIGHT
41
they were just bantering casually. Somehow, given his inability to conceal his
emotions where his son was concerned, he doubted that. As if to confirm this,
Besen cocked an eyebrow at Toby.
Killeen realized that he and Toby must have been quite obvious to everyone in
the large room.
He suppressed an irritated grimace and nodded curtly to Cermo.
The inspection began. Killeen walked down the ranks, Lieutenants
Cermo, Jocelyn, and Shibo at one pace behind. He scanned each crewmember [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl fopke.keep.pl
Killeen watched the approach of the station. He stood with his back to the
assembling crew and peered through the forward port.
Their trajectory ahead was clear. Argo was coming down to fly parallel to the
station's great circular plain, skimmed along it by unseen forces. Shibo could
do nothing with Argo's helm.
He allowed himself a smile of self-derision. His proud show of decisiveness
had come to nothing. Jocelyn's cagey--and insubordinate cgging on of the crew,
and her public disagreement, had angered him. She had taken advantage of the
Family context to attack his piloting decisions. Now, ironically, her whetting
of appetites for action served his purposes.
He had to rouse the crew for an assault that promised little success. They
were going in against unknown opponents, across a mechtech terrain they had
never seen the likes of before. Hard-learned
Family tactics would mean nothing here perhaps worse than nothing, for they
might well be exactly the wrong thing to do.
The swelling disk below revealed its silvery intricacies as he watched. At
their present speed, blunted somehow by the station as they approached, it
would take over an hour to reach the central tower. If that was their
destination, he had time to carry out the ruse he had planned. If not, there
was a surprise squad set at a spot mechs would probably not anticipate.
Killeen wore his full ceremonial tunic of blue and gold over his gray
coverall, and a full belt of tools and weapons beneath that.
38
TIDES OF LIGHT
39
He would waste no time changing if events interrupted the ceremony. Battle
Page 27
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
squads were poised at every small lock of the ship, ready to pour forth on
signal. The remaining crew, gathered here, were for effect. Killeen had no way
of knowing if whatever ran the station had already planted bugs on the hull,
listeners powerful enough to pick up conversation. But he had to allow that
this might be true, and use it against the enemy if he could.
Ahead, the scintillant, perfectly circular disk filled half the sky.
Phosphorescent waves spiraled inward on the disk, their troughs brimming
silver, their peaks moving rims of gold. The lumines-cence hovered like a fog
over the actual metalwork of the disk.
Arcs formed at the disk's rim, where they washed and fretted in random
rivulets.
Somehow this chaos resolved itself into distinct waves which grew and glowed
with each undulation, oozing inward to join a whirlpool that twisted with
majestic deliberation toward the towering spike at the disk center. That
bristly central axis harvested the inward-racing waves in a spray of rainbow
glory as they hammered against its ribbed base.
Jutting above and below the disk, the light-encrusted central tower tapered
away, many kilometers long. Web antennae bristled
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt (42 of 373) [5/21/03 1:01:56 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt along it. One end of the tower poked into a vapor of forking flux that
burned steadily, silent and ivory against the backdrop of a passing dustcloud.
The other ended in a burnished stub.
The waves seemed to be drawing Argo down in a long, scalloping glide across
the circular plain. Bulkheads crackled and the deck rippled in sluggish,
muscular grace, like something roused from sleep. Killeen fretted about how
much of such flexing the ship could take.
Shibo said to him quietly, so the gathering Family behind them could not hear,
"Lie doggo?"
"A little longer. Looks like whatever's bringing us in is taking no other
precautions."
"Maybe it thinks we're a mech ship?"
"Hope so." Killeen watched luminous discharges warp and merge in the plain
beyond. He had the sensation of skating over a huge sea, and remembered the
time he had spent in a place like this--the interior digital world of the
Mantis, a great gray ocean of the mind.
"What now?" she prompted.
"We zag against their zig."
He turned when he sensed the room become still. Lieutenants
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt (43 of 373) [5/21/03 1:01:56 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt
40
Gregory Benford
Cermo and Jocelyn had ranked and ordered the Family into lines precise and
attentive.
This was the atmosphere he wanted, had carefully programmed.
Here, he reflected, was all of humanity he would probably ever know again. The
nearest brothers were back at Snowglade, an unfathomable distance behind. For
all he knew, this small band might well be the only shred of their race that
yet lived.
"Dad? Uh, Cap'n?"
He turned, startled, to find Toby at his elbow. "You're out of ranks,
midshipman," he said severely.
Page 28
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Yeah, but I gotta carry this damn thing, and it's 'cause a you." Toby twisted
his neck uncomfortably at the cowling that wrapped around his shoulders, snug
against his helmet ring.
"You'll carry your designated 'quipment into battle," Killeen said stiffly.
"This'11 just slow me down!"
"It will give us a good view of all the action around and in front of you.
Someone has to carry the area-survey eye." Killeen used the connective words
of and to, which were absent in ordinary
Family speech, to lend distance and Cap'nly reserve.
It failed to work with Toby. "You got me saddled with this, right?"
"Lieutenant Cermo chooses gear."
Toby sneered. "He knew just what you wanted."
"Cermo assigns jobs, picks the most able," Killeen said tightly.
"I'm proud that he deemed my son capable of such an important job."
"Dad, I'll be a slow target with this rig on, crawlin' 'round down there. I'll
get pushed back to the second skirmish line."
"Damn right. I'll want views from the second line, not the first."
"That's not fair! I want--"
"You'll get back in rank or else you won't set boot outside,"
Killeen said sharply.
Toby opened his mouth to protest and the Cap'n spat back, ,,Now.r'
Toby shrugged elaborately and marched stiffly back to his position in the
third left-flank squad. He stood beside Besen, the dark-eyed young woman;
Killeen often saw them together these days. True, they served in the same
squad, but that probably concealed more than it explained.
Killeen hoped the Family had not overheard them and thought
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt (44 of 373) [5/21/03 1:01:56 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt
TIDES OF LIGHT
41
they were just bantering casually. Somehow, given his inability to conceal his
emotions where his son was concerned, he doubted that. As if to confirm this,
Besen cocked an eyebrow at Toby.
Killeen realized that he and Toby must have been quite obvious to everyone in
the large room.
He suppressed an irritated grimace and nodded curtly to Cermo.
The inspection began. Killeen walked down the ranks, Lieutenants
Cermo, Jocelyn, and Shibo at one pace behind. He scanned each crewmember [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]