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

therefore had suffered proportionally greater damage.
They were an odd breed, these "humans," frustrating in their reluctance to be civilized
and unique in many respects from any other species ever conquered by the Jao. Recorded
reports detailed their long resistance to Jao rule and it seemed they were not completely
subdued even now, so many orbital cycles later. Pockets of discontent and unrest
apparently still persisted across the globe.
It would take a few solar cycles for his timesense to synchronize with local circadian
rhythms, but for now Aille allowed normal flow to reassert itself. Then he drew in a deep
breath as his stolid fraghta, Yaut krinnu Jithra vau Pluthrak, emerged from the ship. The
older Jao's vai camiti, or facial pattern, was plain yet pleasing, strong and highly visible,
unmistakably Jithra to anyone experienced at reading faces. Yaut hesitated halfway down
the ramp and his nostrils flared at the unfamiliar scents.
The Jao, ever practical, used filters to sanitize their atmosphere wherever they
constructed their kochan-houses so that unpleasant scents did not intrude. But, according
to reports, Terrans rarely concerned themselves with such matters, although they were
generally more sensitive than Jao to environmental conditions.
According to his briefings, this particular base was one of the first built after the Jao's
initial invasion of this world, and still the largest. Constructed on the site of an already
extant shipyard, it had been intended to impress on the local political entity just how
pointless resistance was by then. Nevertheless, almost another orbital cycle had been
required to effect full control. Several major population centers, including the ones
known as "Chicago" and "New Orleans," had been destroyed in the process, allegedly
still sore points with the quarrelsome natives after all this time.
Aille locked his hands behind his back, cocked his head at the precise long-practiced
angle of measured-anticipation, and waited as a detail of jinau soldiers in crisp dark-blue
uniforms emerged from between buildings. They marched across the hard surface, their
legs matched in stride, providing his first look at the conquered species outside vids and
stills.
They were shorter than most Jao, slender of build where Jao tended to be square and
solid. The outlines of bones were clearly visible through their mostly naked skin,
wherever they neglected to cover themselves with fabric. Their features were not quite
balanced, the eyes too far apart, the faces too flat, giving them a comic exaggerated look.
The ears were the most disturbingly alien, little more than stationary rounded flaps on the
sides of their heads which never suggested the slightest hint of what they were thinking.
Of course, the most surprising thing he'd learned about this species was that they were
timeblind, having to rely on mechanical devices to know when something would happen,
or when it was time to act.
He gauged their approach with a critical eye. Their upper garments bore the red jinau
slash, signifying Terran troops trained and overseen by the Jao. A single figure in the
place of honor at the rear wore a traditional weapons harness and trousers, marking
himself as Jao, but even if he had been dressed otherwise, Aille would have known by his
height and breadth of shoulder that he must be one of his own kind.
He descended the ramp, Yaut following hastily at his heels. "This is a first meeting,"
the fraghta said in a low voice. "Firsts are always crucial. You must begin as you mean to
go on."
Yaut was ugly, his facial pattern marred with scars earned over a lifetime of combat
on assorted worlds, and proud of his hard-won skepticism. A head shorter than Aille, he
had to lengthen his stride to keep up. "Let me precede you, as is proper, or they will think
you have no status!"
"Humans do not reason like that," Aille said without slowing. "According to the