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go somewhere and be alone," she said.
He yielded as she drew him away. "And you can tell me all about this
expedition you took to the Haydon monument," Janice added. "What did Lron and
Crysta have to say about this Haydon, anyway? And Cabell; what was his
reaction?"
Why was she nattering away about Haydon, of all things, when she was
back with Rem at last? But Janice felt something puzzling, something that made
her curious about the subject, and about Cabell and the Sentinels' plans too.
And there was something about Rem that excited her and made her want to be
with him and know everything about him.
Maybe that's what love is, she shrugged to herself.
On Praxis, the Regis flung her hands high, throwing her head back
crying, "Hear me, O my Children!"
Wherever they were, whatever they were doing, her half of her species
paused to listen to her.
Just as no subject of her husband's could eavesdrop on her mental link,
so none of the Regis's children bore any further allegiance to him.
She looked more Human than a Haydonite, though she was fully as tall as
her mate-some twenty feet. And yet there was something ethereal about her, an
alienness that showed in her cobalt eyes. Slender and hairless, she wore a
full-length robe and curious, tasseled five-fingered gloves. Four
emerald-green sensor scarabs, like beautiful brooches or oriental masks,
decorated her robe's collar and neck closure.
"Hear me!" she cried again. 'My investigations here tell me that the
answer I seek is to be found on Haydon IV! There at last I will learn where
the Robotech Masters have gone, and what has happened to the last Protoculture
matrix, the treasure that we must have in order to carry out my Great Work!"
And an age of deprivation and conflict would be brought to a close.
Still shielded in her thoughts, like a hot cinder, was that night so long ago
in the Flower gardens of the paradise that had been Optera.
There she had surrendered at last to the emotional enticements and
seductive intellect and form of Zor-had surrendered herself to him and
surrendered the secrets of the Flower as well.
And was discovered in the act by the Regent, who flung himself off on
the descending spiral of devolution. But soon, all those torturous memories
and misdeeds would be behind her, and her Children.
"Therefore, prepare yourselves, my Children! Gather and make ready, for
we abandon this planet at once, for Haydon IV!"
In the Genesis Pits abandoned on Optera by his wife, the Regent peered
into a cloning vat. Work on his project had not been without its problems; his
biogenetic workers were less adept than the Regis's, and had been forced to
start from scratch after the first abortive attempt.
But now things were going well. The workers had used the most perfect
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
egg available, an unquickened one from the clutch that had spawned the Regent,
feeling it was the ultimate perfection of Invid plasm.
The Regent gazed into the vat as into an aquarium. What floated there
was no ordinary Invid clone, though. It had a cobra hood like his own, a row
of eyelike turbercle sensors that mimicked his.
It was a new Regent, a false one.
"I am pleased," he said. "Make certain that it's ready by the time I've
crushed the Sentinels."
Karen found Jack in one of the training areas the Sentinels had set up
near their temporary groundside billeting area. She had been looking forward
to teasing him about being compulsive in his training, but the look on her
face changed when she saw he wasn't alone.
Bela was with him on the firing range, showing him how to use the
Praxian crossbow. He was getting the hang of it, and put a quarrel within a
foot or so of a bull's-eye at twenty paces.
"Ah, Karen Penn," Bela smiled. "You once asked me about our weapons; now
you see they're so easy that even a male can use them. Jack here is making
fine progress; would you care to try?" Bela clapped Jack on the shoulder in
comradely fashion and gave him a sisterly hug. She towered over him, a full
head taller.
Karen made no effort to keep the frosty tone out of her voice. "No,
thank you. Lieutenant Baker, I'm just here to let you know that your request
has been approved; you've been reassigned to Hovertank duty in the Wolff
Pack." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]