"Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball - Acorna" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ball Margaret)

"I don't know that they do hate," he said.
"Nobody knows what they feel. They are not like
us, and we can't ascribe our emotions to them. All

we know? is what they do."

And they both fell silent for a while, unwill-
ing to speak of what the Khievii did to prisoners
of other races. No one had ever survived capture
by the Khievii, but the images of what happened
after capture were broadcast by the Khievii, in
full three-D reproduction, with sound and color.
Was it a calculated ploy to terrorize, or simply a
display of triumph, as members of a more
humanoid race might display the enemy's flag or
captured ships? No one knew, because the same
things had happened to the diplomat-linguists
who went under sign of peace to make a treaty

with the Khievii.

"Cruel ..." she breathed after a long while

•watching their sleeping child.

"Their only mercy," he said, "is that they have
already let us know to expect no mercy. It won't

'A.corna. -^^ 3

happen to us, because we won't be alive when they
reach here."

Since the third broadcast of Khievii prisoner-
torture, shortly after the beginning of -what history
might know as the Khievii Invasion, no ship of
their people had gone anywhere without certain
necessary supplies. The only prisoners taken were
those caught away from a ship or without time to
use those supplies. The others were always far
beyond the reach of pain when the Khievii caught
up with their bodies.

"But I don't like to go without striking even
one blow," he said, "so I have made certain modifi-
cations to our engines. There are some privileges
to being director of Weapons Development; this
system is so recently designed that even the Fleet
has not yet been fitted with it."