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.
Food is ready. Are you not hungry? Hungry brings tears, too.
She shot him a keen look. "I won't blame tears on hunger. I got homesick."
"Home sick?" He was puzzled.
"Yes, sick for the sight of familiar things and people you love."
"I don't think Catteni understand "homesick"," he said at his drollest.
Now he eased her towards the cavern. "Why do they call this Camp Ayers Rock? Joe laughed." Kris grinned again. "That's a big landmark in Australia." She glanced about her. "Much bigger than this but I guess the outline might be similar. The Aussies must have padded the vote.. if they even took one."
"That does not make them homesick?"
"That wouldn't," she said. "Do you never miss home?"
"Not my home world," he said so emphatically that she wondered if it was the planet itself or the people on it. "We go see Coo and Pess. Tell them about the new foods."
"Yes, we should," she said, now ashamed of her weakness when good friends were in desperate need.
Coo and Pess, and the other ill members of their species, were all together in one hospital cave. Weakness lay on them like a palpable cloak, turning their skin a pale, sickly green. They were lying on plump pallets but to Kris it seemed as if it was an effort for them even to breathe. Pess looked nearly transparent: he was the oldest of the Deskis. It was their bones, wasn't it, that were weakening? Not their lungs.
All the Deskis seemed happy to have visitors and they all gabbled in their own language to each other when Zainal and Kris told them about the foodstuffs that they had found on their latest patrol.
"You think good, you do good," Coo said, looking from Kris to Zainal and nodding. "Coo walk with you soon."
"Learning more English, too," Kris said, shifting her feet and slightly uneasy in the face of such a wasting illness. She remembered how indefatigable Coo and Pess had been on their first patrols together, To see them in such poor condition really disheartened her. If she wasn't careful, she'd start weeping again.
"Do you have seas on your planet?" she asked Coo.
"See?"
"Large waters, salty." Comments were exchanged and Coo, as spokesman, shook his head sadly. Then Kris tapped the water jug.
"Big water, you can't see across it."
"0." Both Pess and Coo responded to that and vigorously nodded. "Big water good."
"Good for Deskis?" and again Kris was rewarded by a nod. "Maybe the clam things will help." Then Leon put his head around the door frame. "Don't overtire them but I hear you found some possible nutrient sources on your latest trek?" All too relieved to have an excuse to leave the Deskis, Kris was happy enough to describe what Joe had found.
"I'll catch him later."
"How are they, Leon?" Kris asked in a low voice.
"Holding their own and the female's pregnant." Kris glanced over her shoulder. "Which is she?"
"The one next to Pess. Her mate. We're hoping he can last until she gives birth but it's doubtful. His age is against him. He's not as resilient as the others. If they were humans, I'd say they had rickets and they'd need vitamin C. I've ordered a microscope," and he gave a brief grin, "from those engineering blokes who say they can make anything we need from mecho scrap. Wish they'd hurry up.
At that point, Zainal joined them in the hall but he didn't need Leon's diagnosis to know how serious the Deskis' condition was.
They made a good meal that evening, the highlight being a fermented beer that was being brewed in Camp Rock.
It had a kick to it, all right, but the taste was weird.
"We'll get it right. We'll get it right," said Worry who had joined them at the table with his cup and the pottery pitcher that held his ration of beer. "Castlemaine XXXX or Foster's it ain't, but we'll have a respectable pint by the time winter comes. We'll need it then."
"We will?"
"Hmmm, meteorologist bloke says he thinks winters are bad here. Sees signs on the trees and stuff. We'll do a good business in rock-squat furs."
"Business?" Kris asked. She seemed to be asking a lot of questions.
"Sure, worker's worth his hire - in privileges. Mitford won't allow gold used as barter or we'd never keep people at their chores.
They'd be out gold digging. Working on some wine, too, out of those green berries. Right tasty. And a cordial for them who don't like the taste of beer."
"There are such people?" Kris said, her expression bland. "How do you like it?" she asked Zainal who was cautiously sipping his beer. "Is there anything like this on Barevi or Catten?" "Yes! Not as good as this," Zainal said, a comment which did his credit no harm.
The beer might taste odd, but it had the same effect as anything brewed on ol' Terra. Two cups and Kris was ready to sack out. Zainal remained behind with Joe and Oskar who was, perhaps, unwisely getting his cup refilled too often.
Early the next morning, it was clear that he had and Astrid, with Joe and Zainal's assistance, took him down to the lake for a remedial swim. Having nothing better to do, Sarah and Kris tagged along. They had the lake to themselves at that hour, it was still full dark outside.
So they were all together when Kris's comunit bleeped.
"Sentries report something big coming in," Worry said.
"Get out here."
"But it's still dark. They won't see the glyphs, Kris said in a wail, once again feeling the muscle-aching labour of making those marks in the hillside.
"I stay with Oskar," Astrid said, taking his limp arm from Zainal's grasp.
The five of them ran back up the steps, glad of the light from the glass-covered lamps that made a fall less likely. They ran along the corridors and through Cheddar Cave where the bakers greeted them cheerfully, then they erupted out, onto the ledge.
Listening intently, they could indeed hear the distant rumble of an airborne vehicle.
"Riding lights passing over," said a voice just beyond them on the ledge and Kris recognized it as Worry's.
"I've notified Mitford. He's alerting the local sentries. Is that Zainal there?" Worry swung a lantern. "Could you possibly tell "It slows for landing," Zainal said.
"I suppose there's no way of knowing where it will land?"
"No," and Zainal shook his head. "A guess would be where it landed before," and he pointed in that direction.
"Cor! We can't make that before it lands."
"We make it before they depart," Zainal said and, pivoting on his heel, passed Joe and Sarah as he made for the steps.
Kris followed, beckoning for the others to come, too.
She made a quick detour into Cheddar. Grinning at the bakers, she held her hand over the loaves just out of the oven.
"We gotta run but can we take some bread?"
"Sure And she tossed a loaf each to Joe and Sarah who had paused to see what she was doing.
Then they went after Zainal. The rumble was getting louder, like a swarm of very angry, very large insects.
Once they were off the Rock, Zainal set a bruising pace. When they stopped for a breather, the ship was passing overhead.
"Transport," Zainal said, peering up at the dark mass, outlined in blinking running lights.
Kris begged the stitch in her side to stop but when Zainal took off again, she was right on his heels and the others behind her.
Despite the darkness, they managed to get over the rough ground with few stumbles and no falls.
Something in the sound of the alien airship seemed to rev them up to the effort. Pictures of the wounds scavengers made on unresisting bodies plagued her when the stitch in her side returned and she ignored it again. If only she could keep from stumbling.
Zainal vaulted the first hedge, for once not considerate of those behind him. But he wasn't showing off his physical superiority, so Kris suppressed the surge of resentment as she trailed further and further behind him. She stood at the hedge that was too high for her to vault, Joe and Sarah coming to a halt beside her.