Laura Hickey Eye of the Ocean Ri

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.Cunra brought the buns and tea then went back to taking readings at the com.Three crackle-top buns.From Palace, not ship’s stores.Gennady washed the first down with the tea then enjoyed the next two more slowly, licking the sugar fromthe tips of his fingers between bites.The grid data should be complete by now.It was time to make a move.Almostany move, then see what happened, and move again.No plan, just trusting toluck.Gennady paddled the ship’s Net open then ordered the baffle screens down,the walls groaning as the field collapsed.Data from the portal study flooded in, Laurel Hickeywww.2morrow.bc.caEye of the Ocean – Book 1: Rithe information condensed into milliseconds and followed by a real time requestfor orders.“Pull back in,” he said.“Full alert.”Getting up to sit at the com beside Cunra, Gennady followed Chanko and theother three on the placement, using heavily filtered Temple Net to supplementthe data while he still could.A flare on the placement that would be the Overpriest’s flitter disintegrating.Either his people were under attack or Chanko had over reacted.Damn thetiming.Damn Cassa and damn what he knew she’d yelling at him right now.Heshould have left Kori at the grid instead of Chanko.As an experienced technician, she would have handled the grid better and as a Master in Security, thewithdrawal better.And with Chanko out of the way, the Clan techs would haveobeyed her orders if he had specifically told them to.Says something about what you really want, doesn’t it? He pushed the words -- Cassa’s words, frequent words -- to the back of his awareness.What was donewas done.The outer guard was ready for the team; entrance shields programmed to ahair trigger, the other two of his triad just inside.Simitta had the crew positioned for a boarding assault, with only the freeborn and Pallin, the second pilot, held back, Olumka with them.The room with Mullaki and Clanny was locked, ship’sNet bypassing them.Simitta’s orders, and Gennady spared his los a smilethrough the Net.Just as his people showed at the entrance to the terrace, Gennady pushedship’s shield into Palace shield.The ship rocked slightly with the impact, thePalace shields more successfully resisting the extension of the ship’s system the further out they got.The Net leads screeched with static but the limited version of ship’s Net held, placement ragged and showing breaks but with people moving ina defensive formation.“Have you relieved me of my duties?” Simitta said through a tight link.One more trick, another push of the shield but in a different frequency andmoving out and around the crew on the terrace.“I didn’t see the need forconsultation,” he sent back to Simitta.A crack appeared in the wall of the terrace -- the dressed stone over thebuilding tiles showed better than the plants that would be slime against the walls.Their shields had been stopped.And Mullaki’s people? They would be stupid tostill be there and Poultat weren’t stupid.Shifting the configuration of extra series of links to handle the placement analysis earned him two fuzzy spots that wouldbe crew.Placement effect held better inside: three in including the guard but with the hole in the ship still wide open.Suddenly, the extended shield was hit from outside, the blast burning throughthe Net.Slow emergency shut down had Gennady blinking at the glare as thoughblinking would help.Half into that reaction, the impact force hit the ship, the hulls Laurel Hickeywww.2morrow.bc.caEye of the Ocean – Book 1: Ritiles screaming as they were chewed between the two energy fields.Passivebackup showed the entrance closed, the outer shield holding the tiles togetherbut the screaming continued.Nothing outside, they were blind, but it had to be a sustained energy beam, not a single shot.His palms itched.Whoever attacked them had been ready, these actions atleast, not unexpected.He could only pray the grid data was what he needed andthat he would be able to get his ship to a place where the bargaining could begin without Rigyant holding every advantage.Like having access to his Net systems.“Prepare for Web jump,” he said, extending into the ship’s Net and feeling theresidue of Simitta’s anger like it was a scent.“Damage?” he asked, wanting words to replace what he felt, but the reports were already coming in.Tiles had beenchipped and fractured but new ones had swarmed in to replace them, the oldones riding piggyback for now, held to the outer surface of the ship by theshielding.Further in and he felt for his crew, no words, but each flared asignature.One missing: Chanko.Further in again and his awareness of the separate data links spread, thesystems becoming like simple-minded entities, fitting together into a whole.Asthe Web energies started to build and he slipped from the Net into the Web pilot system, he felt the beginning of the familiar time distortion.If Chanko were still alive through that, the Web forming around the outside ofthe ship would kill him.And when they jumped, take a sizable chunk of SummerRun with them, he had neither time nor temper to be careful.If the damageextended to one of the Depths, like Red Band, other Runs could be affected.Howmuch were the watchers prepared to risk? Or had they prepared for this as well?Web fields showed him what the Net couldn’t anymore.Ri was a blurred massunderneath [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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