[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"Who?"
Rennie gave him a hard look. "Think on it a moment, cub."
So he did, and in Rennie's memories found a boyhood fascination with two
explorers, the first white men to find passage to the West Coast.
"So, I was born before 1805." Ukiah glanced at Rennie. Rennie's boyhood had
been in 1840s, shortly before the Civil War. When Coyote had found Rennie
dying on a battlefield, Rennie had been in his early twenties. Rennie had
"aged" less than a decade since then, but he was clearly a man, whereas Ukiah
was arguably still a boy.
"Aye, cub, you're older than I am."
My life is so weird, Ukiah thought.
Rennie laughed.
***
Max and Sam in the first car turned off for Jubilee Lake. With Rennie
navigating, Ukiah and
Rennie continued until they found Forest Road 63, another narrow dirt track
winding through the forest.
Ukiah measured three miles via the trip meter and pulled off into a rough
parking space.
It was the first time Ukiah worked with someone who could sense everything
that he could. Rennie found where the women had parked Kraynak's Volkswagen
and like two bloodhounds, they followed the grad student's trail. Where the
girls separated, Rennie took Rose's track, while Ukiah kept to Alicia's trail.
Judging by the way the women had meandered over the valley, their directions
had been not been very clear.
"What exactly were they looking for?"
"A hole in the ground, I think," Ukiah said.
"Are we talking groundhog-sized? Or something bigger?"
Ukiah stopped on an outcropping of rock. "Something bigger." He motioned down
at the sunken earth before him. "Like that, I'm guessing."
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Rennie bounded easily up the rocks to his side and whistled in his surprise.
Ukiah crouched down, picked up a pebble and tossed it out into the massive
rocky depression. He knew it was only because they talked about the scout ship
that this seemed to be a likely crash site. Both
the Ontongard and the Pack had scoured Oregon, Washington, and Idaho surely
they would have investigated such an obvious spot.
"First time I've seen this," Rennie murmured, apparently reading Ukiah's
thoughts. "I was on horseback last time I was in these mountains this spot
hasn't been this easily reached before."
Considering the rough dirt road and hike, Ukiah wouldn't consider it
accessible. Surely, though, the ship's landing site couldn't be so well-known
that two college students from Pennsylvania could so easily find it. And yet
"Do you really think it's the ship?" Ukiah picked up fist-sized rock and sent
it after the pebble.
"Perhaps."
"How can we find out if it is the ship?"
"I'd rather leave it lost and buried," Rennie said, "rather than dig it up and
try to keep it safe from the Ontongard and the humans."
Ukiah looked up at him in surprise. "So why look for the ship, then?"
"To make sure that the Ontongard don't have it."
Ukiah chilled at the thought of the Ontongard having access to the scout ship,
its weapons and technology. "Do you think that's why the Ontongard keep coming
back to Pendleton? They know where the scout ship is?"
"Actually, I don't think they do. Hex would have focused all his energy into
its repair instead of fiddling with the Mars Rover."
Ukiah frowned at the weak logic. "Using the Rover means humans do all the work
of getting to
Mars. To repair the scout ship to the point of being able to take off would
mean exposing it to lots of curious noses, and not just the Pack's."
Rennie considered for a long time in silence, staring down at the massive
depression that might be hiding the alien ship. Ukiah could sense Rennie's
mind sorting through centuries of action and reaction, plots and sabotage,
starting with Prime leaving the mother ship. Prime's nature of laying plan
within plan was in fact an Ontongard habit, stemming from the fact they could
think on multiple subjects at once. Luckily, Prime's rebellion had instilled
in Hex a self-paranoia; the creature mistrusted all its Earth-born Gets and
limited his strategies to those conceived by the one wholly alien unit. Still,
with hundreds of Gets to carry out his schemes, the sheer number of interwoven
plots were staggering.
The Pack simply destroyed anything that smacked of Hex, without trying to step
through the alien logic. Rennie now tried to see the greater design.
After a long time of thinking, Rennie said quietly, "Hex wanted you.
If he had the scout ship, he could repair the ovipositor and make breeders [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
"Who?"
Rennie gave him a hard look. "Think on it a moment, cub."
So he did, and in Rennie's memories found a boyhood fascination with two
explorers, the first white men to find passage to the West Coast.
"So, I was born before 1805." Ukiah glanced at Rennie. Rennie's boyhood had
been in 1840s, shortly before the Civil War. When Coyote had found Rennie
dying on a battlefield, Rennie had been in his early twenties. Rennie had
"aged" less than a decade since then, but he was clearly a man, whereas Ukiah
was arguably still a boy.
"Aye, cub, you're older than I am."
My life is so weird, Ukiah thought.
Rennie laughed.
***
Max and Sam in the first car turned off for Jubilee Lake. With Rennie
navigating, Ukiah and
Rennie continued until they found Forest Road 63, another narrow dirt track
winding through the forest.
Ukiah measured three miles via the trip meter and pulled off into a rough
parking space.
It was the first time Ukiah worked with someone who could sense everything
that he could. Rennie found where the women had parked Kraynak's Volkswagen
and like two bloodhounds, they followed the grad student's trail. Where the
girls separated, Rennie took Rose's track, while Ukiah kept to Alicia's trail.
Judging by the way the women had meandered over the valley, their directions
had been not been very clear.
"What exactly were they looking for?"
"A hole in the ground, I think," Ukiah said.
"Are we talking groundhog-sized? Or something bigger?"
Ukiah stopped on an outcropping of rock. "Something bigger." He motioned down
at the sunken earth before him. "Like that, I'm guessing."
Page 103
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Rennie bounded easily up the rocks to his side and whistled in his surprise.
Ukiah crouched down, picked up a pebble and tossed it out into the massive
rocky depression. He knew it was only because they talked about the scout ship
that this seemed to be a likely crash site. Both
the Ontongard and the Pack had scoured Oregon, Washington, and Idaho surely
they would have investigated such an obvious spot.
"First time I've seen this," Rennie murmured, apparently reading Ukiah's
thoughts. "I was on horseback last time I was in these mountains this spot
hasn't been this easily reached before."
Considering the rough dirt road and hike, Ukiah wouldn't consider it
accessible. Surely, though, the ship's landing site couldn't be so well-known
that two college students from Pennsylvania could so easily find it. And yet
"Do you really think it's the ship?" Ukiah picked up fist-sized rock and sent
it after the pebble.
"Perhaps."
"How can we find out if it is the ship?"
"I'd rather leave it lost and buried," Rennie said, "rather than dig it up and
try to keep it safe from the Ontongard and the humans."
Ukiah looked up at him in surprise. "So why look for the ship, then?"
"To make sure that the Ontongard don't have it."
Ukiah chilled at the thought of the Ontongard having access to the scout ship,
its weapons and technology. "Do you think that's why the Ontongard keep coming
back to Pendleton? They know where the scout ship is?"
"Actually, I don't think they do. Hex would have focused all his energy into
its repair instead of fiddling with the Mars Rover."
Ukiah frowned at the weak logic. "Using the Rover means humans do all the work
of getting to
Mars. To repair the scout ship to the point of being able to take off would
mean exposing it to lots of curious noses, and not just the Pack's."
Rennie considered for a long time in silence, staring down at the massive
depression that might be hiding the alien ship. Ukiah could sense Rennie's
mind sorting through centuries of action and reaction, plots and sabotage,
starting with Prime leaving the mother ship. Prime's nature of laying plan
within plan was in fact an Ontongard habit, stemming from the fact they could
think on multiple subjects at once. Luckily, Prime's rebellion had instilled
in Hex a self-paranoia; the creature mistrusted all its Earth-born Gets and
limited his strategies to those conceived by the one wholly alien unit. Still,
with hundreds of Gets to carry out his schemes, the sheer number of interwoven
plots were staggering.
The Pack simply destroyed anything that smacked of Hex, without trying to step
through the alien logic. Rennie now tried to see the greater design.
After a long time of thinking, Rennie said quietly, "Hex wanted you.
If he had the scout ship, he could repair the ovipositor and make breeders [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]