[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
They were halfway there before Burch finally spoke. Why d you hit Ttra-mü?
he asked, his voice forced-casual.
I don t like Tampies, Ferrol said.
How come? If you don t mind talking about it, that is?
As a matter of fact, I
do mind, Ferrol said.
He glanced, looked over in time to see Burch swallow. Ah, the other said, a
bit lamely.
There s a lot of really interesting stuff down there to study, Peyton spoke
up, clearly trying to steer the conversation onto safer territory. Were you
monitoring us, Commander?
I did the computer-scrub on the rabbit s transformation, Ferrol reminded
her.
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Timothy%20Zahn%20-%20Warhorse.htm
(50 of 212) [10/31/2004 11:25:17 PM]
Timothy Zahn - Warhorse
She reddened slightly. Oh, yes.
A pang of guilt poked a small hole in Ferrol s conscience. There was no reason
to make this so awkward for Burch and Peyton it wasn t the scientists he was
angry with, after all. On the contrary, it could easily be
Amity s survey section who would have the best chance of ultimately seeing
Page 45
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
through the Tampies facade of peaceful friendliness. Giving them the
impression that all anti-Tampies were violent coma-
brains would only make it that much harder for them to accept the truth when
the facade finally broke. Those memory-plastic skeletons look particularly
intriguing, he commented. You think you ll be able to duplicate the
material?
Oh, sure, Burch assured him. If there s one thing human biotechnology has
gotten down pat, it s the duplication of interesting molecules and biochemical
systems.
Peyton snorted gently. Though there s always the tendency to forget that the
whole is more than just a collection of commercially useful parts. The Tampies
are right about that
, at least.
Burch threw her an annoyed look. Philosophies of life aside, it is the
commercial results that pay for trips like this, of course.
And there should be plenty of that to go around, Peyton said with a sigh.
Between the memory-skeletons and the organic electric field oscillators we
should bring back more than enough to keep the Senate budget watchdogs happy.
Even though the Tampies get to keep everything we can t find in the next two
weeks? Ferrol murmured.
Burch hissed gently between his teeth. Even then, he said. But he didn t say
it like he believed it.
Peyton steered the conversation back to the wonders of Alpha s ecology and
animal life after that, and neither the Tampies nor their philosophies were
mentioned again before Ferrol helped load the samples into the lockbox lab and
took his leave. But it was enough. There would be no need for him to plant
seeds of distrust or discontent among the scientists, he saw now those doubts
were clearly already there. His job now was to simply help water those seeds&
a job a man on liaison duty would have ample opportunity to carry out over the
next two months.
Heading down the corridor back to the bridge, he permitted himself a smile.
No, he wouldn t need the envelope or the gun just yet. In fact, he might not
need them at all. The way things were going, Captain Roman might wind up doing
the bulk of
Ferrol s work for him.
Unless
, he thought& and for a moment the smile slipped. Could that be exactly why
Roman had given him this liaison job in the first place? To nurture anti-
Tampy sentiment among the scientists?
Could Roman in fact be secretly on Ferrol s side?
No
, Ferrol told himself firmly.
Utterly impossible
. The Senator had seen Roman s psych profile, and Roman couldn t possibly have
fooled the Starforce s soul-sifters that completely. He was pro-Tampy, all
right, and he d given Ferrol the liaison post either as punishment or else
from some misguided idealistic belief that frequent
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Timothy%20Zahn%20-%20Warhorse.htm
(51 of 212) [10/31/2004 11:25:17 PM]
Timothy Zahn - Warhorse contact with Tampies would somehow mellow his hatred
of them. The fool.
Still&
Ferrol had intended to spend his off-duty time the next few days trying to get
access to the crew psych files anyway. Assuming he was able to get in, it
wouldn t hurt to take a look for himself at Roman s profile. Just to make
sure.
Chapter 7
Ferrol had fully expected some kind of official response from Roman over his
Page 46
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
flooring of the Tampy in the hangar anything from a blistering reprimand to
temporary confinement to quarters or even a complete stripping of rank and
imprisonment. To his surprise, though, the captain never even mentioned the
incident. Perhaps the popular image of Tampies as cheek-turning forgive-and-
forgetters had rubbed off on him; or perhaps he was afraid of making a martyr
out of
Amity s leading anti-Tampy figure. The latter wasn t an unreasonable fear, to
Ferrol s mind emotional reactions and their manipulation could be tricky
things to handle, and Roman didn t seem the type to have cultivated such a
talent.
Or else Burch and the Tampies, for reasons of tact or point-making, had simply
never reported it. It was, he eventually decided, as good an explanation as
any.
They spent another two weeks circling Alpha, watching from orbit as the
landing parties poked around the planet s desert, forest, and Alpine
environments, ooh-ing and ahing at everything in sight. The Lorelei
sticks as Dr. Tenzing dubbed the oversized electronic tent stakes
Amity s techs came up with worked beautifully, their oscillating electric
fields either decoying Alpha s predators away from the landing parties or else
leading them directly to net traps, whichever Sanderson s people wanted at a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
They were halfway there before Burch finally spoke. Why d you hit Ttra-mü?
he asked, his voice forced-casual.
I don t like Tampies, Ferrol said.
How come? If you don t mind talking about it, that is?
As a matter of fact, I
do mind, Ferrol said.
He glanced, looked over in time to see Burch swallow. Ah, the other said, a
bit lamely.
There s a lot of really interesting stuff down there to study, Peyton spoke
up, clearly trying to steer the conversation onto safer territory. Were you
monitoring us, Commander?
I did the computer-scrub on the rabbit s transformation, Ferrol reminded
her.
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Timothy%20Zahn%20-%20Warhorse.htm
(50 of 212) [10/31/2004 11:25:17 PM]
Timothy Zahn - Warhorse
She reddened slightly. Oh, yes.
A pang of guilt poked a small hole in Ferrol s conscience. There was no reason
to make this so awkward for Burch and Peyton it wasn t the scientists he was
angry with, after all. On the contrary, it could easily be
Amity s survey section who would have the best chance of ultimately seeing
Page 45
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
through the Tampies facade of peaceful friendliness. Giving them the
impression that all anti-Tampies were violent coma-
brains would only make it that much harder for them to accept the truth when
the facade finally broke. Those memory-plastic skeletons look particularly
intriguing, he commented. You think you ll be able to duplicate the
material?
Oh, sure, Burch assured him. If there s one thing human biotechnology has
gotten down pat, it s the duplication of interesting molecules and biochemical
systems.
Peyton snorted gently. Though there s always the tendency to forget that the
whole is more than just a collection of commercially useful parts. The Tampies
are right about that
, at least.
Burch threw her an annoyed look. Philosophies of life aside, it is the
commercial results that pay for trips like this, of course.
And there should be plenty of that to go around, Peyton said with a sigh.
Between the memory-skeletons and the organic electric field oscillators we
should bring back more than enough to keep the Senate budget watchdogs happy.
Even though the Tampies get to keep everything we can t find in the next two
weeks? Ferrol murmured.
Burch hissed gently between his teeth. Even then, he said. But he didn t say
it like he believed it.
Peyton steered the conversation back to the wonders of Alpha s ecology and
animal life after that, and neither the Tampies nor their philosophies were
mentioned again before Ferrol helped load the samples into the lockbox lab and
took his leave. But it was enough. There would be no need for him to plant
seeds of distrust or discontent among the scientists, he saw now those doubts
were clearly already there. His job now was to simply help water those seeds&
a job a man on liaison duty would have ample opportunity to carry out over the
next two months.
Heading down the corridor back to the bridge, he permitted himself a smile.
No, he wouldn t need the envelope or the gun just yet. In fact, he might not
need them at all. The way things were going, Captain Roman might wind up doing
the bulk of
Ferrol s work for him.
Unless
, he thought& and for a moment the smile slipped. Could that be exactly why
Roman had given him this liaison job in the first place? To nurture anti-
Tampy sentiment among the scientists?
Could Roman in fact be secretly on Ferrol s side?
No
, Ferrol told himself firmly.
Utterly impossible
. The Senator had seen Roman s psych profile, and Roman couldn t possibly have
fooled the Starforce s soul-sifters that completely. He was pro-Tampy, all
right, and he d given Ferrol the liaison post either as punishment or else
from some misguided idealistic belief that frequent
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Timothy%20Zahn%20-%20Warhorse.htm
(51 of 212) [10/31/2004 11:25:17 PM]
Timothy Zahn - Warhorse contact with Tampies would somehow mellow his hatred
of them. The fool.
Still&
Ferrol had intended to spend his off-duty time the next few days trying to get
access to the crew psych files anyway. Assuming he was able to get in, it
wouldn t hurt to take a look for himself at Roman s profile. Just to make
sure.
Chapter 7
Ferrol had fully expected some kind of official response from Roman over his
Page 46
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
flooring of the Tampy in the hangar anything from a blistering reprimand to
temporary confinement to quarters or even a complete stripping of rank and
imprisonment. To his surprise, though, the captain never even mentioned the
incident. Perhaps the popular image of Tampies as cheek-turning forgive-and-
forgetters had rubbed off on him; or perhaps he was afraid of making a martyr
out of
Amity s leading anti-Tampy figure. The latter wasn t an unreasonable fear, to
Ferrol s mind emotional reactions and their manipulation could be tricky
things to handle, and Roman didn t seem the type to have cultivated such a
talent.
Or else Burch and the Tampies, for reasons of tact or point-making, had simply
never reported it. It was, he eventually decided, as good an explanation as
any.
They spent another two weeks circling Alpha, watching from orbit as the
landing parties poked around the planet s desert, forest, and Alpine
environments, ooh-ing and ahing at everything in sight. The Lorelei
sticks as Dr. Tenzing dubbed the oversized electronic tent stakes
Amity s techs came up with worked beautifully, their oscillating electric
fields either decoying Alpha s predators away from the landing parties or else
leading them directly to net traps, whichever Sanderson s people wanted at a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]