"Eric Flint - Ranks of Bronze 2 - Carthago Delenda Est" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flint Eric)

Agayan’s indignation overwhelmed him. He fell silent, fiercely trying to bring his fury
under control.

The Investigator interjected itself. “No species in the historical record has reached industrial
chain reaction in less than two hundred thousand years since initial habitat domestication,” it
stated ponderously. “And none has done so since the last of the Doge Species.”
 The Pilot said nothing. She was tempted to point out that the policies of both the
Federation and the Guilds were precisely designed to prevent such occurrences, but suppressed
the whimsy ruthlessly. Foolish, she was not.

Agayan finally restored his calm enough to speak. Icily:

“That is quite enough, Pilot. You may go. This information—this preposterous twaddle, I
should say—will be corrected as soon as we reach that planet. Set the course.”

“Yes, Guild Voivode. I have already done so. Your instructions, as always, were very clear
and precise.”

Agayan spread his clusters in acknowledgement of the praise. “Send a message to Guild
Headquarters informing them that we are Transiting to the human planet.”

The Pilot scuttled out of the chamber as fast as her ungainly form of locomotion permitted.

Agayan resumed his position of rest. “I cannot believe how incompetent some of the
Federation’s—”

“Ptatti gattokot poi toi rhuch du! Ptatti gatt!”

All six of Agayan’s clusters knotted in shock. The sheer volume of the Gha commander’s
voice had been almost like a physical blow.

The shock deepened. Deepened.

Dazed, the Voivode watched one of the Gha sepoys stride forward from its position against
the wall and shatter the Investigator’s spinal cord with a single blow of its fist. Shatter it again.
Seize Yuaw Khta’s lolling head and practically twist it in a full circle.

The Voivode could hear the bones break.

Ancestral reflex coiled Agayan into a soft ball. He heard the Gha commander bellowing
more phrases in the sepoy language. Two of the Gha immediately left the chamber.

Agayan was utterly paralyzed. He could not even speak. Only watch.

His soft-bodied species, some distant part of his brain noted, did not respond well to
physical danger.

Standing in front of him, now, he recognized the figure of the Gha commander.

The Gha spoke to him. He did not understand the words.