"Eric Flint & K. D. Wentworth - The Course of Empire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flint Eric)

can make it even better. The halfcape does not drape correctly, though. I did request that
you try it on before we arrived."
Aille moved his shoulder, raised his arm. "It is fine. Stop fussing."
"It is my function to fuss," Yaut said. He smoothed a wrinkle and stepped back, trying
unsuccessfully to smother prideful-approval. "Are you going to keep him waiting?"
They could hear the motor of the vehicle sent for them just outside. "That is tempting,
but I think not," Aille said. He picked up the carved bau and tucked it beneath his arm.
Yaut opened the door and they stepped out into the fierce yellow sunshine again. A
human escort waited beside a vehicle. The vehicle was of Terran origin but had been
refitted with Jao maglev suspension. The driver's brown face dripped with moisture as he
opened the door for them, though they could easily have worked the mechanism
themselves.
"How are you called?" The Terran words felt strange on his tongue, as Aille settled in
a seat both too short and narrow for his powerful legs.
Yaut gave him a startled look, but Aille had learned from the reports that humans
routinely presented their names upon first meetings. It was actually considered the
baseline of politeness.
"PFC Masterton, sir!" The Terran slammed the door and ran back around to the
control seat with an air of great efficiency. "I hope you had a pleasant trip."
"Space travel is rarely pleasant," Aille said, "but then one does not traverse space in
order to experience pleasure. One travels to make one's self of use."
"Uh, yes, sir." The soldier glanced at the two of them over his shoulder, then devoted
himself to operating the vehicle.
They passed several large groups of Terrans walking in that peculiar regimented order
again, their legs pumping like cogs in a machine, before they pulled up in front of a sleek
black building all curves and quantum crystal. Unlike Aille's quarters, Commandant Kaul
krinnu ava Dano's command center was obviously Jao-designed, the first bit of "home"
Aille had seen since arriving on this world.
Inside, the light was comfortably low, the dimness scented with familiar astringent
herbs. Their escort led them to a black crystalline wall that shimmered into transparency
at their approach. "In here, sir," Masterton said. He waved the doorfield off, then stepped
aside, his alien posture stiff and unreadable.
Yaut slid in front of him and this time Aille allowed it. This was Jao business and the
fraghta, with his greater experience, knew better than he how to proceed.
"Keep your ears down, lad," Yaut whispered, then strode ahead, shoulders and arms
falling easily into dutiful-respect, as though he'd done this thousands of times.
Commandant Kaul was standing before a permanent map of Terra on the far wall, so
that they could see his profile. He was a brawny individual, as thick-bodied as any Aille
had ever seen, and well marked with a striking facial pattern that accentuated his strong
bone structure. He wore his harness as though it were the richest of robes. That was to be
expected, of course. Dano was one of the great kochan, even if it did not have quite the
status of Narvo or Pluthrak.
"I find it strange," Kaul said, without turning around.
Aille waited a respectful distance back, his head high. "Yes, Commandant?"
"That Pluthrak would accept an assignment on Terra to command jinau."
Aille decided to let pass, for the moment, the question of whether he commanded all
ground forces on Terra or simply the native troops. Now, he sensed, was not the time to
seek confrontation on the issue; since, clearly enough, the Dano's remark was a probe to
create such discordance.
So, he said nothing. The Commandant was thus forced to turn and face him, instead