Anne McCaffrey Ship 06 The Ship Errant

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conversation?"
"Oh, with," Carialle said, making the man's image grin ferally. "With, of
course."
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JODY LYNN NYE - [The Ship Who Sang Series - 06] The Ship Errant
CHAPTER 13
� ^ �
T
he audio channels were full of excited chirping as Carialle and the Cridi ship
shifted into orbit over the griffin homeworld.
"We are here!" Tall Eyebrow exclaimed with delight from the crash couch where
he was strapped in with Big Eyes. "We have succeeded in reaching this place,
all together and with no mishap."
Keff watched as on-screen the clouds parted gently beneath them to reveal a
vast and mountainous continent, wedge-shaped, strung from north to south like
a harp with silver rivers. On the horizon ahead, a small silver moon rose.
Carialle hurtled onward until it passed overhead, and set behind them. A
second, larger moon followed, and vanished in turn. A blue ocean swam up,
flashed green islands at them, and was replaced by another continent, long and
narrow, also mountainous. Keff could see lines of smoke from active volcanoes.
Another ocean glided by, this one wider than the first, then the harp
reappeared, much closer and larger. Cities showed up in the folds of the
mountains, very near the peaks. On extreme magnification, Carialle saw small
craft flying, then realized she was seeing griffins on the wing. She showed
Keff and the Cridi, who cheeped and peeped over the marvel.
Keff, listening as Carialle monitored active broadcast frequencies for a
homing signal, caught Big Voice giving a live play-by-play of the new planet
for the benefit of listeners on his homeworld.
"Eleven to the sixth power inhabitants, five oceans, two major continents, but
many archipelagoes. Signs are humidity equals point-one atmosphere," Big Voice
stated, with great emphasis on the statistics. "It will be uncomfortably dry
and hot, but the landing party is prepared for eventualities."
Keff grinned and turned to catch the eyes of the Cridi flying with him.
"Always," Big Eyes said, exasperation evident on her small face. She waved her
hands
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JODY LYNN NYE - [The Ship Who Sang Series - 06] The Ship Errant in derisive
gesture.
Long Hand watched Carialle's telemetry indicators. "So dry," she said. "It is
like
Ozran. Some in the other ship will never have experienced such conditions."
"Well, you'll be in water globes," Keff said. "That is, after I make contact
and establish parley conditions. I don't want you appearing until I'm sure no
one is going to attack us."
"Huh," Small Spot grunted, and raised his hand to show the gleaming ringer
stalls. "I
do not fear. We have the Cores."
"Don't manifest anything that looks like a threat," Keff said.
Tall Eyebrow was studying the astrogation tank carefully, measuring the
distance between the two stars that they had just crossed.
"So close. It is a great pity," he said. "These people could have been friends
of Cridi and Ozran."
"They still could be," Keff reminded him. "Try to keep an open mind. It may be
a fringe group of criminals who've been robbing spaceships. If the government
promises to punish the pirates, you could still establish friendly relations
form a
Mythological Federation of Planets."
"If they themselves are not involved," Tall Eyebrow said, his small face
thoughtful.
The ship rounded the planet twice more at high altitude before beginning to
drop. The harp separated into successive bands of tan and blue.
"I've pinpointed the largest population centers," Carialle said, illuminating
lie planetary map, "but in spite of Keff's suggestions I don't want to land
right in the thick of things. Some nice suburban location& X marks the spot. I
think I detected a flat place I can land."
A blue dot began to glow on the chart about fifty kilometers outside one of
the large cities. Narrow Leg's navigator glanced up from her console at the
screen nearest him, and nodded to Keff. "Defenses are in place. Yours, too."
"Right," Keff said, taking a deep breath. "Down we
Narrow Leg's ship had dropped back to ride into the lower atmosphere on
Carialle's tail. Watching her waveform monitor, she was pleased by the
precision that the pilot showed, not getting too close and endangering them
both, but staying just far enough
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JODY LYNN NYE - [The Ship Who Sang Series - 06] The Ship Errant back that the
end of the elongated oval envelope just nipped his afterburners. You'd think
he'd been doing it all his life. The hull sensors went off, indicating
Carialle's skin temperature had risen to normal reentry temperatures. She
checked the hull for leaks in either the skin plates or in the cooling pods
underneath. All was well. The Cridi pilot signalled that he would stay in long
orbit, and wished Carialle well.
"We will wait for word to come," he said in creditable Standard.
"See you downstairs," Carialle said, as the Cridi braked, and sailed on above
her head.
Her last, long approach was almost entirely over ocean. She descended very
quickly, keeping her speed up until the last minute. She hadn't noticed any
telemetry beacons, nor radar signals, as if there wasn't a single ear pointed
toward space. Strange when you considered that these people were parasites,
preying on the isolated Cridi, that they wouldn't be more cautious about
invasion of their own airspace. If she'd had functioning saliva glands, she'd
have spat.
"All well, Cari?" Keff asked.
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"Yes," she said crisply, increasing visual magnification and turning it toward
her chosen landing site. "Are you certain we shouldn't land in a covert
location? It's possible. Unless that clunky communication system is concealing
a much more sophisticated technology underneath, no one can see me."
"No," Keff said. He had prepared his environment suit and kit before strapping
in for approach. The light, transparent gloves flapped loose at his wrists as
he clutched the ends of his couch arms. "We're not going in to study them.
We're entering as envoys of peace, I hope. If nothing else, this will put them
on notice that we have observed their people's crimes, and demand cessation of
hostilities. What can they do? Attack the entire CW?"
"It looks as if that was just what they have been doing," Carialle said
softly. "One ship at a time. Be careful."
"As Big Voice and the other Cridi are always reminding me, lady, we have the
Cores.
I'll be fine."
Unsatisfied, Carialle returned the greater part of her attention to what lay
ahead.
Gravity was approximately 1.2 times Standard. That meant those griffin wings
had to lift just that much more and stay aloft in very windy skies. They were
strong
. Keff
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JODY LYNN NYE - [The Ship Who Sang Series - 06] The Ship Errant didn't have
the advantage he'd had on the base, when they were all fighting that
oppressive gravity. He would tire more quickly than they. Carialle maintained
respect for the griffins' musculature, having studied the scans all the way
from one star to the other. She was trying hard not to admire the fact their
bodies, from about the shoulders back, looked like a Terran great cat, a
species which she was fond of watching for its grace. And those claws and
teeth!
Beneath her, the tiny islands flitted by. Volcanic in nature, they had been
augmented in size by the growth of a calcifying organism like coral, but less
acid sensitive. Her imagination and pattern recognition aptitude saw in the
shapes of the most proximate four islets a dragonfly, a chick, an [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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