[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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distinct and different vessels.
"Shelley, can you get a clear design printout of this?"Ian asked.
Shelley ran the radar imaging through the computerfile, and after several
minutes of cross-matching with theirrecords, the probable design and ship's
data finally cameup on the screen.
"Ian?"
"Yes?"
"What the hell is Albania?"
"Albania?" He floated over to Shelley's side and peeredover her shoulder. He
noticed that there was a faint but pleasant scent to her hair, and for a
second his thoughts were diverted.
"What is it?" Ellen asked, and as he looked across ather Ian realized that she
had noticed his diversion and hefelt somewhat flustered.
Albania? Faint memories were stirred of old maps ofsoutheastern Europe. He
wasn't sure, but he had a rec-ollection that they were some crazy nationalist
group outof the Balkans. A number of ethnic groups had founded colonies in
that final decade before the Holocaust, as an attempt to preserve their
culture if the war finally came.So this then must be an ethnic preservation
unit. Hechuckled softly at the image of the Albanians greeting him at the door
wearing gawdy peasant garb and gyrating tobizarre folk music.
This might be amusing, Ian thought lightly. They mustbe harmless.
"Ian, I'm getting a printout on the second unit," Shelleysaid. "It appears to
be another ethnic group, it's a
Serbo-Croatian Nationalist Liberation Unit."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Serbo-Croatians? Hell, even he was stumped by that.
He looked across at Ellen. "Amaze me and tell me thatyou know Serbo-Croatian,
or whatever it is they speakover there."
"I'd like to lie, but I never even heard of Serbo-Croatian."
Ian didn't answer. He'd let them think that he knewall about them. He took
over the data board from
Shelleyand accessed into their own library and into the library from
287
to find an answer.
After a half hour of silent study, he came to his con-clusions. "Stasz, how
about firing up our drive and gettingus the hell out of here."
"What do you mean?" Richard interjected. "Hell, we'reonly a thousand
kilometers away and closing.
Come on, Ian, let's check these ethnic guys out it might be inter-esting."
"Look, I'm the historian and the project leader. Trustme. Those Albanians and
Serbo-Croatians were neighborsback on Earth. In fact, if you go over to that
region today,you'll still find them gleefully slicing each other's throats
when the sun goes down. They were doing it for a thou-sand years before the
Holocaust. Hell, those crazy bas-tards helped to trigger a world war. If ever
there weretwo groups of people who enjoyed slaughtering each other,it would be
those two. I bet that they searched throughall the cosmos just to find each
other out here, so they could dress up in their ethnic garb and go at it. So
let's just leave them alone with their friendly folk customs."
"Come on, Ian, let's go in just a little closer." This timeit was Stasz.
"You're playing with fire."
"And here I thought you were turning heroic on us.
Now the old Ian comes back out again," Shelley saidjokingly.
"Okay, go ahead, you crazies. But if they can get aboardthis ship, you better
learn how to speak Serbo or Alba-nian, or whatever it is, damn fast."
From less than a kilometer away they slowly circledthe two units. The two
colonies were docked to each otherby several long tubes. Stasz hailed the
vessels on every possible frequency but received no response. However,both
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ships gave clear indications that their reactors werefunctioning at full
power, and from the exterior mirrors Ian could see reflected images of the
inside indicating lights and movement.
It was the half-dozen suitless bodies floating betweenthe two ships that
finally sobered lan's companions.
Suddenly a number of vessels emerged from the Serbo-Croatian ship, and then
from the Albanian. Both squad-rons started in their direction and lan's
arguments finally took effect.
"I think we better get out of here," Stasz muttered ashe punched up the
sublight drive and started to pull awayfrom the colonies.
However, after several minutes it soon became clearthat their pursuers were
gaining on them.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"You see, I told you so," Ian said dejectedly. "Youguys wanted to check them
out when I told you not to,and now they're going to force us to attend
whatever itis they do to each other over there."
"Maybe they're not hostile," Ellen said hopefully.
"Not hostile? Did you see those bodies that had beendeep-spaced? That didn't
look too civilized to me."
"They're closing in at point twenty-three kilometers per minute," Stasz
interrupted. "I'm pushing her to the max now, but it will take me another half
hour to plot outour jump and go through purging and adjustment."
"Can't you speed it up?"
"You want to up our chance of disintegration from 1.4to 20.2 percent?"
"Might not make a difference," Ian replied.
"Say, take a look at that!" Shelley cried, pointing at the aft screen. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl aikidobyd.xlx.pl
Page 60
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
distinct and different vessels.
"Shelley, can you get a clear design printout of this?"Ian asked.
Shelley ran the radar imaging through the computerfile, and after several
minutes of cross-matching with theirrecords, the probable design and ship's
data finally cameup on the screen.
"Ian?"
"Yes?"
"What the hell is Albania?"
"Albania?" He floated over to Shelley's side and peeredover her shoulder. He
noticed that there was a faint but pleasant scent to her hair, and for a
second his thoughts were diverted.
"What is it?" Ellen asked, and as he looked across ather Ian realized that she
had noticed his diversion and hefelt somewhat flustered.
Albania? Faint memories were stirred of old maps ofsoutheastern Europe. He
wasn't sure, but he had a rec-ollection that they were some crazy nationalist
group outof the Balkans. A number of ethnic groups had founded colonies in
that final decade before the Holocaust, as an attempt to preserve their
culture if the war finally came.So this then must be an ethnic preservation
unit. Hechuckled softly at the image of the Albanians greeting him at the door
wearing gawdy peasant garb and gyrating tobizarre folk music.
This might be amusing, Ian thought lightly. They mustbe harmless.
"Ian, I'm getting a printout on the second unit," Shelleysaid. "It appears to
be another ethnic group, it's a
Serbo-Croatian Nationalist Liberation Unit."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Serbo-Croatians? Hell, even he was stumped by that.
He looked across at Ellen. "Amaze me and tell me thatyou know Serbo-Croatian,
or whatever it is they speakover there."
"I'd like to lie, but I never even heard of Serbo-Croatian."
Ian didn't answer. He'd let them think that he knewall about them. He took
over the data board from
Shelleyand accessed into their own library and into the library from
287
to find an answer.
After a half hour of silent study, he came to his con-clusions. "Stasz, how
about firing up our drive and gettingus the hell out of here."
"What do you mean?" Richard interjected. "Hell, we'reonly a thousand
kilometers away and closing.
Come on, Ian, let's check these ethnic guys out it might be inter-esting."
"Look, I'm the historian and the project leader. Trustme. Those Albanians and
Serbo-Croatians were neighborsback on Earth. In fact, if you go over to that
region today,you'll still find them gleefully slicing each other's throats
when the sun goes down. They were doing it for a thou-sand years before the
Holocaust. Hell, those crazy bas-tards helped to trigger a world war. If ever
there weretwo groups of people who enjoyed slaughtering each other,it would be
those two. I bet that they searched throughall the cosmos just to find each
other out here, so they could dress up in their ethnic garb and go at it. So
let's just leave them alone with their friendly folk customs."
"Come on, Ian, let's go in just a little closer." This timeit was Stasz.
"You're playing with fire."
"And here I thought you were turning heroic on us.
Now the old Ian comes back out again," Shelley saidjokingly.
"Okay, go ahead, you crazies. But if they can get aboardthis ship, you better
learn how to speak Serbo or Alba-nian, or whatever it is, damn fast."
From less than a kilometer away they slowly circledthe two units. The two
colonies were docked to each otherby several long tubes. Stasz hailed the
vessels on every possible frequency but received no response. However,both
Page 61
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
ships gave clear indications that their reactors werefunctioning at full
power, and from the exterior mirrors Ian could see reflected images of the
inside indicating lights and movement.
It was the half-dozen suitless bodies floating betweenthe two ships that
finally sobered lan's companions.
Suddenly a number of vessels emerged from the Serbo-Croatian ship, and then
from the Albanian. Both squad-rons started in their direction and lan's
arguments finally took effect.
"I think we better get out of here," Stasz muttered ashe punched up the
sublight drive and started to pull awayfrom the colonies.
However, after several minutes it soon became clearthat their pursuers were
gaining on them.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"You see, I told you so," Ian said dejectedly. "Youguys wanted to check them
out when I told you not to,and now they're going to force us to attend
whatever itis they do to each other over there."
"Maybe they're not hostile," Ellen said hopefully.
"Not hostile? Did you see those bodies that had beendeep-spaced? That didn't
look too civilized to me."
"They're closing in at point twenty-three kilometers per minute," Stasz
interrupted. "I'm pushing her to the max now, but it will take me another half
hour to plot outour jump and go through purging and adjustment."
"Can't you speed it up?"
"You want to up our chance of disintegration from 1.4to 20.2 percent?"
"Might not make a difference," Ian replied.
"Say, take a look at that!" Shelley cried, pointing at the aft screen. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]