Greg Bear Eon 1 Eon

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Chapter Thirty-one Lanier stood in the broad, clear luminosity of the library,
face twitching. He hadn't actually sat down before one of the chromium
teardrops for months. He didn't wish to, even now.
The experience had not been physically unpleasant, but it seemed that all his
present troubles had emerged from one of those seats--the one now festooned
with inactive equipment.
Three Apple- and Uzi-armed marines stood uneasily behind him; Gerhardt had
insisted they accompany Lanier, in case any of the Russian SPETSNAZ
had this far infiltrated.
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He walked between the seats. Like Patricia, he eschewed the cluttered seat.
He stopped and turned around to survey the plaza, then sat down on the chair
and flipped open the control box. At the press of his fingers, queries
floating before him.
The library still addressed him in clear twentieth-first-century
English. Perhaps it remembered him; perhaps it knew who they were, even why
they were here.
"I need to learn twenty-first-century Russian," he said.
"Early twenty-first. Pre-Death. How long will that take?"
"Do you wish a reading knowledge, speaking knowledge, colloquial facility, or
all of these?" the library narrator asked.
"I need speaking knowledge, colloquial, right away. I suppose the others as
well, if it doesn't take much more time."
"You can be taught a command of spoken colloquial and technical Russian in two
hours. An additional hour will be required to teach you to read and
translate."
"Then give me all of it," he said.
"Very well. Please relax; you are a little tense. We begin first with the
Cyrillic alphabet .... " I am relaxing, he realized with some surprise. As
the lessons developed, he slipped into the bath of knowledge with a deep
mental sigh. I'm enjoying this.
He had never had a talent for languages. Nevertheless, within three hours, he
spoke Russian like a native Muscovite.
Muscular, balding and florid-faced squadron commander Lieutenant
Colonel Sergei Alekseivich Pletnev and his four crew disembarked the tethered
heavy-lifter from the aft hatch and were guided into the first dock airlock.
By the agreement negotiated several hours before, the remaining heavy-lifters
maintained their positions outside the bore hole.
The Russians removed their suits and were escorted by seven
Apple-bearing marines across the staging area and into the
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Kirehner greeted him--his words translated by
Lieutenant Jaeger--and explained the procedure.
"The senior officer for your men in the Stone is in our second chamber.
According to a message from your Major General Sos-- Sos--"
"Sosnitsky," Jaeger finished for him, translating.
"Sosnitsky has promoted an officer named Mirsky to lieutenant general.
That means we have to negotiate passage across the first chamber; yur
corm'ades have us blocked off here. Our only alternative is to fly you across
the axis, and I don't think anyone relishes that thought."
P!emev listened to Lieutenant Jaeger, and nodded vigorously.
"I will speak to them again," he said. "This time directly."
"You don't have seniority over them. They may think you're a traitor."
"I can only try," Pletnev said. "Perhaps I go down alone, or with my crew,
and try to convince them .... " "They don't seem anxious to be convinced.
Your transmissions have been broadcast to the troops and they've continued
fighting."
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"Yes, so?" Pletnev blustered, his face becoming even redder.
"We try again."
"We try again," Kirchner agreed. "First, we'll let you transmit to the first
chamber. Tell them everything; what our situation is here, what you plan on
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doing, what happened on Earth."
"Yes, I am no idiot. That is what I will tell them." He glared at
Kirchner and then offered his hand again. "You butchered us," he said.
Kirchner hesitated, then shook the hand firmly. "Your men fight bravely."
"Show me where to go now." Pickney suggested he follow her to a
communications post. She pinned a wireless microphone to his lapel and tuned
the equipment to a frequency used by the Russians.
Pletnev spoke with a Lieutenant Colonel I. S. Pogodin in the first chamber.
The German translated most of the rapid exchange for
Kirchner.
"--You cannot have forgotten me, Pogodin. I instructed your class in
Novosibirsk."
"Yes, indeed, you sound like Pletnev--' "Lay down your fears, Pogodin!
The battle is over. I need to cross your territory to speak with
Colonel Mirsky--now Lieutenant General Mirsky. Will you allow--" He glanced
at Kirchner.
"Yourself, one of your crew and an escort of four marines," Kirchner said.
"Two of us and four of them to cross?"
There was no reply for a moment. "We have no communication with the second
chamber, or any other chamber. Our own Colonel Raksakov is dead. I am not
senior officer in this chamber there is Colonel
Vielgorsky."
"Then get together with Vielgorsky and make a decision, Pogodin."
There was a few minutes' wait until Vielgorsky came back with a reply.
"You may cross unarmed. I will want to speak with you in person."
Pletnev cast a querying look at Kirchner. "Unarmed? Is that acceptable?"
Kirchner nodded.
"We will come down, then--" "By the zero elevator to the science team
compound," Kirchner instructed, and the German translated. "We'll need a
truck released from the compound to cross the chamber."
Pletnev passed on the requirements. Vielgorsky added that one of his men must
accompany them in the truck to the second chamber. After a moment's
consideration, Kirchner ag .an agreed. He then spoke with
Gerhardt and confirmed the plan.
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"Lanier and two of my men will be on the opposite side of the bridge as soon
as we reach an agreement with whoever's in charge of the second chamber," [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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