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.
"Not speedy, but they sure do manoeuvre the obstacles," Lenny told her at noontime. "Some of these lads are really clever," he went on enthusiastically. "They figured out how to short circuit, or whatever it is you do with programming chits..
"Chips, then, how to keep the versatility but give control to the driver. Clev-ver!"
"Indeed."
"They don't have much speed which the lads are still trying to improve "Personally, I'd rather not ride over this landscape at speed," Kris said.
Lenny just grinned. "You've never done it." Kris went back to debriefing, but was called over to help Mitford and his aides figure out where best to place the remaining recruits.
"How long does it take a person to become the "indigenous personnel"?" she asked Mitford at one point. She was finding it necessary to shift position a lot to ease her soreness. But it had been worth it. Zainal smiled a lot today as he went from one group of aliens to another.
"Huh? Oh," and Mitford grinned, leaning back to stretch his arms and ease his shoulder muscles. "Here, let's just say until they have to help a new batch in-flow. Say, tell me about this seaside building your patrol found?"
"There's not much to tell. It was closed up tight even though Zainal tried every which way to get inside. Maybe the fish aren't running."
"I do like sea food. Like clam chowder, too," and Mitford for once sounded a little wistful. Kris was rather pleased that she was audience to that mood.
"With one of those air-cushions, we could start at dawn and be back by nightfall with a sack of clams," Kris suggested.
"You could at that. If Dowdall hadn't interrupted just then, Kris was sure they might have been given a go-ahead on such a luxury run.
But the vehicles were more urgently needed for other tasks.
On the third day, she, Zainal, Joe and Sarah escorted an air-cushion car, carrying some of the less able recruits on their way to BellaVista via the Rock. Worry greeted Zainal and the others effusively from his office.
"Your patrol needs to hunt for us," he told them, "and you're to break in some of a mixed bag of the new blokes and sheilas. The Rock's going to be Supply Depot for meats and green groceries.
"Mixed bag?" Kris asked.
34' "Too right, since you've got Zainal and he can speak Deski, Rugarian and Turs."
"Oh, that kind of mixed bag," Kris said. If they had Turs to train, Zainal was the right teacher.
"We also need you on short day-trips," Worry said more confidentially to Kris. "In case of you know what?" And he tilted his chin skyward.
"Oh, in case we get surveyed again," Kris said, looking at Zainal who now sported a comunit.
Mitford expected to be back at the Rock the next day but he'd had a private word with Kris.
"Keep pretty close to Zainal, will you, Kris?"
"Why?" she'd asked, glaring at Mitford.
"I don't want to lose our most valuable alien asset. "You won't lose him."
"Not by his choice, I don't think," and Mitford gave Kris a searching look which she returned without a blush.
He nodded, as if he knew more than he would conirnit to words.
"He's emassi and can deal with Eosi…I guess they permit emassi Catteni to speak to them. We might need him badly to deal, for us, with these Eosi.
That is, if one of them ever does see a report on this planet."
"Zainal is sure they'll send some sort of emassi, higher in rank than he is. Eventually," and then Kris realized she'd reassured the sergeant on the very point that concerned him.
"There's a lot more going on, on Earth, on Barevi and Catten, than any of us knew," he went on.
"That's for darnn sure," Kris said.
"Just so's you know I'm counting on you, Bjornsen." She gave the sergeant a level look, noticing the new lines around his eyes, the muddy look in the pupils from the many problems he was dealing with.
"You can count on me, Sergeant, she said and this time, she did give him a formal salute.
He grinned as he returned it.
They were still bunked in the Mitchelstown cave and the possessions they had left behind were untouched. Fresh coveralls and pairs of boots had been added to each shelf.
Seeing these, Kris and Sarah voted on a dip in the lake so they could wash themselves and their coveralls, since they now had fresh ones to wear. Not that the coveralls showed any of the hard usage they'd been given over the past five weeks.
A youngster, not one of the rookies, caught them before they left their quarters.
"Kris Bjornsen?" he asked, looking from Kris to Sarah.
"Yes," Kris said.
"Dr Dane wants you to come speak to him. When you can. It's not urgent, he said."
"Tell him we got his message and will see him shortly.
And what's your name?"
"I'm Buzz," and the boy grinned to show two missing front teeth, "because I buzz abojit the place like a hornet.
Mom says I'm too noisy to be a bee and there aren't bees on Botany anyway. My real name's Parker but I don't like it at all."
"Buzz is a grand name for an active boy like you," Kris said and smiled back at him. "See you around."
"You will," he answered cheerfully over one shoulder, already "buzzing' off.
Leon wanted to report on some of the findings now that he had test kits. The information would be invaluable to any hunting party since Leon and his assistants had been able to identify other nutritionally rich plants, berries and nuts.
"We've put some of the younger members of the Rock out looking for these," and he tapped the nut-like shells.
"I've seen them in quantities around here. And these berries are rich in C and A." He pointed to some of the green globes that Joe had thought might be digestible.
"We're trying to dry them for storage. I know you hunter types would prefer to go for the meat but these can be just as important to a properly balanced diet."
"Can we see Coo?" asked Kris.
"If you can catch him," Leon said drily. "That stuff was magical on all the Deskis. I'm keeping a real close watch on Murn, the female.
Even Pess is back on duty.
Thanks, Zainal." And Leon gave him a comradely clap on the arm.
"You saved their lives, you know." Zainal merely flicked his eyebrows up but Kris had a sense that he was not as diffident as he appeared.
Leon was obviously of the same mind.
The Rock was full again. That seemed as it should be to Kris.
Furthermore, many more of the indigenous personnel waved or smiled at Zainal when they met him.
They hunted the next day, returning home laden with rock-squats and another loo-cow, since Bart and Pete in the Cheddar wanted to roast one whole to show the rookies that it could be done and that the meat was tasty.
They hunted the next two days, in different directions, and spent part of the day picking the nuts and stripping the branches of every berry-shrub they located.
"We'd've had more," Sarah said with a jaundiced glare at Joe Marley, "if more had actually landed up in the sack!" Joe merely raised his eyes in innocent surprise. Oskar guffawed aloud as he handed over a heavier sack than Joe's.
They did not hunt the next day, although that was the plan. Just past third moonrise a sentry excitedly stamped into Mitchelstown cave and called out Zainal's name.
"Yes?"
"You gotta come. Something's about to land. Not as big as the others but big enough," and with that, the man ran out.
"Wake Worrell," Zainal called after him.
"That's where I'm going," the man cried over his shoulder and was told to keep his bloody voice down as he proceeded down the corridor to Worry's quarters.