Nimisha's Ship
- Автор: Маккефри Энн
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Nimisha's Ship». Краткое содержание книги:
When Nimisha takes an experimental ship on a solo test flight, something goes horribly awry, marooning her light-years from home on a planet as deadly as it is beautiful. Now the ruthless members of a rival branch of the Rondymense family are given the chance they've been waiting for: to reclaim the Ship Yards by any means necessary.
Only Nimisha's ingenious child, Cuiva, stands in their way. But for how long? For just when her daughter needs her most, Nimisha is in a precarious situation herself--and unable to help. But Nimisha has never given up in her life--and she's not about to start now . . .
"How were you to know, Lady Cuiva?" Jon said kindly.
"Briefly, are there any other predators of that ferocity that we have to guard against while we're on-planet?" Caleb asked.
"There's a smaller continent," Jon said, "that has some very large grazers that can be dangerous if something stampedes them but we tend to stay clear of their herds whenever possible. The smaller grazers are easily frightened and very fast in making strategic retreats. We haven't seen any of the slime slugs on this continent…"
"Which is just as well," Nimisha said with a grateful sigh.
"Plenty of scavengers, usually small and ground burrowers that are attracted by the smell of blood. In fact, I suspect they're already at work on this morning's carnage," and Jon gestured to the hills from which the last attack had come and then the distant area beyond the repeller screen, "cleaning up the… remains. Lakes and rivers, other than the ones we have seined out and made safe here at Clifftown and the five Sh'im towns, are not suitable for bathing. I'd warn your crew, sir. We have domesticated deer-like creatures to use as a farm and draft animal and the Sh'im are trying to get some other types that might be stronger for such things as hauling heavy loads."
"Sir-" Kendra Oscony, lan Hadley, and Nazim were all trying to get through the hatch at the same time. Kendra, being the slimmest, slid in sideways, saluted. "Reporting for duty."
"Good of you, XO," Caleb said, "but I'm given to understand that the natural… denizens of the planet will remove the… remnants of the recent air attack."
"They will?" Hadley asked, his eyes wide. "Some of those-" He cleared his throat hastily and rephrased what he had been about say."-monsters are the biggest things I've ever seen alive."
Jon explained about the scavengers, and Caleb issued the warnings with the advice to pass them on until he could post the notice as well as vids of the indigenous wildlife.
"Those Sh'im arc dead shots." Hadley said, shaking his head in approval.
"With only three digits to work with, too, on controls built for five," Nazim said.
"I gather you had a chance to become acquainted with our allies?" Jon asked, grinning.
"Hell's bells-sorry, ma'am," lan interrupted himself with a grimace at his rough speech. "Before your com message reached us, we'd been tackled and sat on, so we couldn't make a dash back here to assist."
"Whoever was flying that gig is some pilot," Kendra said approvingly.
"Globan Escorias, formerly of the Acclarke," Jon said.
"Escorias has a reputation for being a clever pilot," Kendra said with a grin. "Then who was manning your Fiver, ma'am?"
"Please address me as Nimisha, Kendra," she said firmly, and Kendra made a grimace of apology. "Helm handles the Fiver's offensive."
"And the Five B's, as well," Caleb said, forestalling Kendra's next question.
"Sort of makes gunners redundant, doesn't it?" Hadley said with dismay.
"Only if you're shy of personnel, lan," Nimisha said. "We need marksmen when we hunt for food here on Erehwon, so if that's an interest of yours and your commander has no objections, I'm certain you can join a hunt."
"Young Tim tells me he leads them," lan said, still slightly miffed.
"Young Tim?" Cuiva asked.
"Syrona's ten-year-old," Jon said. "He's our resident language specialist."
"He was displaying his skill during the raid," Kendra said, grinning. "And taught us a few words and when to nod and when to shake our heads," she added with feeling.
"That's where Cherry is," lan Hadley said. "She's got units she'll want to adapt but she's vowel deep in the sounds the Sh'im make. You never mentioned their size or their three fingers."
"There's a lot we haven't had time to mention," Nimisha said, thinking of the other surprises in store for her daughter.
"I think Lady Cuiva's feeling a bit faint, Lady Nimisha," Perdimia began.
Even as Nimisha rushed to help get Cuiva to the nearest chair, she added, "Nimisha, please, Perdimia. And Cuiva. We don't have my dam to scowl at us for dispensing with formalities. Sometimes we've precious little time to worry about protocol on Erehwon. Cater, what's Cuiva to have next?"
"Broth and it's ready."
"Oh. Would you get it please, Perdimia?"
"Is it just dizziness?" Caleb asked, anxiously.
"I'm fine, really I am," Cuiva replied, but the hand she tried to use to dismiss her problem was noticeably shaking.
"What do you expect, overloading the girl with so much excitement barely out of sleep?" Doc said. "Cater's put the necessary additives to the broth."
"Perhaps if you took her to the relative quiet of the Fiver," Caleb suggested.
Nimisha and Jon exchanged guilty glances. "Relative quiet" with young triplets depended entirely on their whimsical feeding times.
"Casper's?" Jon suggested and immediately cancelled that idea. "No, Hope and the twins will be there."
"What's the matter with the Fiver? It's only a step away. I'll carry her," Caleb began.
"Let's let her drink the broth first, shall we?" Nimisha said brightly.
"She can stay here, of course," Caleb said, "but we thought you'd like her with you."
Kendra cleared her throat. "I think that perhaps there are others staying in the Fiver?"
She managed to avoid direct eye contact with Nimisha by striding over to the dispenser and asking for two coffees. She brought one back to hand to Caleb, who absently thanked her.
"Yes," Nimisha said, still not quite having the moral courage to deal Cuiva yet another shock, "that's right, Kendra."
"We have children," Jon said bluntly. "We had no way of knowing how long any rescue mission might take," he went on, addressing Cuiva more than the others.
"Understandable," Caleb remarked amiably. "First duty of the marooned explorer is to survive."
Nimisha was relieved at how well Caleb reacted to the initial announcement. If only he doesn't fault (on when the full truth is known.
"It is one reason exploratory crews are mixed," Jon added, carefully choosing his words and still looking straight at Cuiva.
"You mean, I have a brother or sister?" Cuiva asked.
"Not slow on the uptake, is she?" Kendra remarked dryly.
"Twins, in fact," Jon said very brightly. "They run in my family. I'm a twin."
"Oh, Mother, if you knew how I yearned for siblings…" Cuiva had recovered sufficiently to hug her mother enthusiastically. "Boys or girls?" she asked Jon.
"Actually, both." He cleared his throat, and rattled on, trying to get to the critical part-the recent arrival of the triplets. "Tim was the only child who survived our initial attempt to increase the human population. There was a pretty nasty fever we couldn't seem to reduce with what medicines we had left. Just before Nimisha arrived, Syrona got pregnant with Hope, who's four now. Then Syrie had twins, too."
"She did?" Cuiva replied, blinking.
Caleb was beginning to wonder at the curious recital of Erehwon genesis, but all Cuiva heard was the last.
"Twins?" She exclaimed, her eyes round, "Mother, you had twins?"
Nimisha gave a nervous laugh.
"Two sets of twins did much to increase the esteem in which the Sh'im hold us humans," Jon continued laboriously.
"More than your ability to destroy those avians?" Caleb asked, more confused than surprised. "And erect repeller shields?"
"I think it's a species sort of thing," Nimisha put in. "Sh'im females start breeding at two years, have two to three offspring every year for the next ten."
"But we're humans," Caleb said in objection.
Kendra cocked her head and then ducked away, grinning.
"Oh, please, Mother, could I meet our twins right away? How old are they?" Cuiva asked eagerly.
"I'd say about three years," Kendra said. "They were with Dr. Qualta and Valina Kelly when the attack started. Your sister resembles Lady Rezalla. Don't know who the boy looks like."