Angelique Anjou Chameleon (pdf)

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carefully until she d reached the highest branches that seemed likely to hold her.
The land had risen slightly which accounted for some of her breathlessness as
she d jogged away from her house. With the added height of the tree, she could just see
the peak of the remains of her roof.
Dismay filled her. As she d suspected, the damned robots were systematically
dismantling her house not simply demolishing it taking it apart! As if there weren t
soldiers and war machines surrounding almost the entire perimeter of the space ship
and it was a space ship, unlike anything she d ever seen before the robots were as busy
as they could be. They d cleared about an acre possibly more of her prized peach
orchard. They hadn t simply leveled it, however. They were excavating!
CHAMELEON Angelique Anjou 60
As chaotic as her mind still was with shock, it settled in her firmly that they were
constructing & something.
* * * *
I hesitate to point this out, Sir, but it occurs to me that we might have created an
intergalactic incident.
Galen slid a sardonic look at his first officer. You think?
Tale reddened. Should I contact high command, Sir?
Galen drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, thinking. Aside from the fact
that he didn t particularly want high command to know they d fucked up and landed their
gods damned scout ship on a planet already taken by beings obviously extremely
territorial, what would be the point? It wasn t likely they d send out re-enforcements to
take the planet aside from the fact that it would take them annums to make the trip.
He needed time to consider the situation, he finally decided. From what he could
see, the aliens seemed content, for the moment at least, to simply watch.
Order the constructs to set up a perimeter shield to protect our property, Ken-
so, he said abruptly.
Ken-so looked like he wanted to question the order, but he merely nodded and
belayed the order to the techs that were monitoring the constructs.
Galen pushed himself from his command chair and strode toward the lift. I ll be
in my quarters. Inform me if anything happens that I should know about.
Yes, Sir!
He glanced toward the vid screen while he waited for the lift to arrive, scanning
the crowd for any sign of the female he d claimed earlier. He wasn t surprised when he
didn t see her, but he was vastly disappointed. He glanced at the tech at the console
nearest him. Did the construct tag the biological entity he examined? he asked as
casually as he could.
It s standard procedure, Sir! the tech responded.
Nodding, Galen entered the lift as the opening materialized and assumed a wide
legged stance and an expression of unconcern. He was fuming, however, as he stepped
off of the lift on his own level and strode briskly to his quarters. He halted once he d
stepped inside and his door had closed behind him, staring at nothing in particular while
he tried to sort through the tangled mess of the problem he was facing. After a few
minutes, when he realized he was still too tense to make any headway, he turned to the
com unit. Send Onyx to my quarters.
There was a brief pause. Onyx has been checked out, Sir. Should I recall her?
Galen frowned. No. Just send me Jaide.
Instead of the response he d expected, there was another, longer pause. Jaide s
in the repair lab.
Just send me a gods damned companion droid! Galen snarled.
Yes, Sir! the man on the other end of the com unit responded.
Sprawling on his bunk, Galen stared at the ceiling, trying to untangle the mayhem
in his mind. From the massing military presence beyond the perimeter of their colony
construct ship, he was reasonably certain they d stumbled upon a fairly sophisticated race
of beings clearly aggressive.
It seemed to also follow that they couldn t have the capability for space travel, or
much in the way of space travel, or they would ve encountered them before.
CHAMELEON Angelique Anjou 61
Of course they were from a different galaxy altogether than he was so it was
possible they had space travel capabilities. They just hadn t devised, or discovered, any
method of making the great leaps necessary for intergalactic travel as his own people
had.
Getting up abruptly, he moved to the com unit. Ken-so!
Yes, Sir!
See if you can put a report together for me from the scout ships indicating
whether or not these people have intergalactic, or inner solar system, flight capabilities.
If there hasn t been enough data collected yet, then have the scout ship on the fourth
planet launch some drones to survey for any sign of them.
There was a slight hesitation in Ken-so s response, enough to alert him to the fact
that Ken-so was struggling to contain his curiosity about the request. Finally, he merely
affirmed the order, however, and said the report would be sent to him as soon as possible.
Anything else, Sir?
Galen hesitated, wrestling with the impulse to ask where their biological subject
was at the moment. He finally tamped it with the reflection that the military was likely to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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