Freedom's Landing
- Автор: Маккефри Энн
- Серия: Catteni Sequence #1
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Freedom's Landing». Краткое содержание книги:
The alien Catteni value strength and intelligence in their slaves—and Kristin has managed to survive her enslavement while hundreds of other humans have not. But her trial has just begun, for now she finds herself part of a massive experiment. The aliens have discovered a new world, and they have a simple way of finding out if it’s habitable: drop hundreds of slaves on the surface and see what happens.
If they survive, colonization can begin. If not, there are always more slaves.
Huh?"
"You also heard the Doyle brothers same as I did, and they said there's nothing doing between "em."
"They was careful, is all.
"Oh, stow it. The Cat's risked his neck to save us and I'm going to be grateful to him until I find a damned good reason not to be. And Aarens isn't good enough. I know his type and I tell you what, was I hiring, I wouldn't hire Aarens noway nohow.
Kris stepped as far back in the shadows as she could, a frisson of fear for Zainal running up her back. Did Mitford have any idea that such feelings were running against the Catteni? Probably, and that's exactly why Zainal was sent out on constant reconnaissance - to reduce the possibility of reprisals against him.
"When's Mitford going to axe him then? Said he would when he found out all the bastard knows. Seems to me he'd've done that by now."
"Maybe that's why he keeps sending him out of the camp? Get something else to waste him?"
"Next time he might just not come back," a new voice said with a malicious chuckle. "We don't need no Cats here."
"Ah, you guys make me sick. He's one man, and he's been useful.
You don't have to like useful people but you can use them. That's what Mitford's doing." Conversation altered when the first man got in the water.
"Keeee-rist, but that's cold! Freeze m'balls off, it will."
"You have "em?" Kris grimaced and stopped listening as the comments became more personal and derogatory. Men were worse gossips than women. She hunkered down in the shadows, her back against the cold stone, and waited. Fortunately the group was not any more inclined to stay in the cold water than she had been and they were shortly out of it and dressing. She waited another long moment until she figured they had reached the upper corridors of the cave and then she left the lake.
She stopped by Mitford's office but he had a crowd, all talking and pushing diagrams at each other, so she went to her own cave. Sleep was the next order of her day.
During her latest trek someone had taken advantage of her absence and stolen some of the brush which formed her mattress, so she didn't have quite as comfortable a night's rest as she'd hoped for. Still, she woke rested before dawn. When she got to the main cavern, hunters were grabbing a cup of the hot herbal tea before setting off to check snares or to hunt. With her cup in hand she wandered, hoping to find Jay or Sandy. They'd level with her about Zainal. At this point in time Kris couldn't really see Mitford executing the Catteni for any reason.
And there was no way Zainal had been "planted' among the prisoners. He was here because other Catteni wanted to get even with him. Sandy was absent, as was anyone else with whom she had some acquaintance.
Finding an unoccupied rock near the front of the cavern, she seated herself and kept watch of those coming into the cavern for their breakfast, waiting for Zainal's appearence. She wondered how Coo was doing.
They really shouldn't have let him fuss with that flying thing: that fall had not been good for him, even with Lenny and Kris cushioning his landing.
She heard the rumble and the warning yell from the sentinels at the same instant and darting to the outside ledge, tried to see what was making the noise. Whatever it was, it was still some distance but it sounded awfully like the harvester vesseclass="underline" big! Only everything had been harvested. Hadn't it?
"Where's Mitford?" was the cry and several of the hunters took off to locate him. Kris went for Zainal.
She met him head on, bouncing off his hard body and cracking her head against the rock on the rebound. His hand grabbed her upper arm to steady her.
"Another big ship, Zainal, she said, pointing outside.
Still holding her arm, the Catteni drew her along with him and the others who had been roused by the general furore.
Once again, this time in the dark, everyone who could clambered to the nearest height and peered in the direction of the oncoming airborne vessel.
"Think they've come on reprisals?" someone asked.
"With us messing up their mechanicals?"
"Zainal?" Mitford called.
"Here."
"Any ideas?" Kris could see that Zainal had cocked his head, listening intently to the sound.
"That is Catteni engine sound," he said. Then pointed, as a bulk, outlined by running lights, materialized out of the dawn gloom. Even Kris could see the basic difference in design between the first ginormous vessel and this one which was not as large, if the lights indicated its perimeter. Zainal watched a moment more and then pointed in the direction of the abattoir.
"That way.
"Jaysus what're they doing?"
"Any chance they're landing more prisoners, Zainal?" Mitford asked.
"Yes. Good chance." And he began to climb down.
"Who comes with me?"
"I didn't say you should go, buddy,- Mitford said in a tense voice.
"Only fast runners," Zainal said, ignoring Mitford.
"They must unload."
"Yeah, but you'd get there fast enough to take off with them, wouldn't you?" Mitford said in a hard tone, coming out of the darkness to grab Zainal by the arm.
Kris caught her breath. Maybe, after all, Mitford wouldn't object to a summary execution of the Catteni and Kris did not, definitely did not, want to see Zainal killed. She liked him too much!
"Don't do anything foolish, Sarge," she said. "I'll go with him."
"Of course you will," Mitford said cryptically. They had to pause now because the noise of the overflying craft drowned out any conversation.
Zainal kept his eyes on the vessel, then nodded.
"Transport. More people. We must tiy. It is night still," Zainal said and, pulling Kris by the hand, hauled her with him down from the height.
"Try what?" Mitford called out in the same breath that Kris echoed his question but Zainal was already sprinting down the ravine in the direction the long ship above them was headed, dragging Kris along with him.
She was aware of some conflicting and confused orders behind them as Zainal ran onwards. In the first few strides she wondered why he was so keen on having her along but then she had to concentrate on her footing to keep up with him. The fact that she could was a plus. She was sure fitter on this crazy planet than she'd ever been. She could hear others following, cursing at the dark and the bad footing but she concentrated on watching Zainal's movements and the track in front of them.
They were well ahead of those pursuing when Zainal allowed her to pause for a few moments. They were on the downside of the ridge, the lights of the vessel obscured by the lay of the land. She quickly recovered her breath enough to speak.
"Will they stop the same place they dropped us off?" she asked.
"That would be good," he said. "Nothing there." She took that to mean that the field would be empty and thus a good spot to dump more unconscious bodies.
She wondered how long it would take, or did the Catteni have some way of just rolling bodies out of the ship's hold that didn't require individual handling? Then she remembered, all too vividly, what happened to living creatures lying on fields on this fecking world. No wonder Zainal was in such a hurry. Dawn was still far away. Would they get there soon enough to prevent slaughter?
He started off again and she followed, all too aware that it had taken them two days to reach the caverns from that site. Even at the pace Zainal had set, would they make it to the field before the ship took off again?
Well, they had to try. Or maybe he was hoping to attract attention from one of the hill points overlooking the field?
They clambered up a slope now, and Zainal stopped so abruptly that she ran into him.
"Hey, warn me, will -.." Her voice trailed off as she realized that the running lights were higher than they should be for a ship that might be landing. They hadn't seen its gradual ascent. Zainal cursed, whirled and looked back the way they had come, running his hand and arm along the line the ship had travelled as if trying to impress the direction in his mind. He started back up the slope they had just slid down, digging his toes in and slipping in the urgency of his passage.