"Jacquelyn Hooper - Home On The Range" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hooper Jacquelyn)

He walked away from the clearing and toward their gear as Paladin prepared to
turn the native to ash, negating its very existence. He did not care what
Paladin said. Killing this one was not like killing the hare and antelope
hybrids, or the things with lion's paws and eagle's wings. She called his name.
Looking in her eyes, he felt as if he were under a spotlight. She wanted him to
perform.

And he failed. Whatever she expected, he did not do. He could not shake the
feeling he was wrong in not taking any sort of action.

Rae arrived as Chris sat near the gear, blowing on his hands to warm them. The
New river Expedition Company was a maverick operation. When Cynataka had been
discovered, New river capitalized on the chance to offer homestead packages,
trouble free attempts at life on a real new frontier. They had moved in quickly
on the Army's tail, using atmospheric sensors -- Rae nicknamed them atmostats --
to secure and define their claim even as the military destroyed the indigenous
plant and animal life.

He and Paladin kept the territory clear, killing anything the army missed. Rae
was their custodian; she cleaned up what the natives destroyed before the
homesteaders arrived.

She also carried supplies and extra gear, even though Paladin never let him use
most of it. Guns, rifles, knives and arrows did the job, Paladin said. The rest
just got New river good copy.

Rae parked her bike alongside the extermination supplies, blowing hot air and
slush around as the motors shut down. She was six feet tall, dressed in orange
overalls and wet from speeding through the rain. She grabbed a coat from her
bike and tossed it to Chris.

"What's the kill?" she asked.

"A woman. With fur." He stood up, and put on the jacket. It was her favorite,
the black one with her old army squadron nickname, Anansi, and a spider on the
back. "And hooves."

"Still there?"

Chris nodded. Rae opened a compartment on the bike, and pulled out a camera. She
ran through the brush, sidestepping branches so quickly she made little noise.
Chris followed, even as he heard the whine of Paladin's laser eradicator in
action. His nose, tender from the rain, twitched at the scent of burning flesh
and fur.
Rae moved through the trees, stomping through the mud. "He did it again!"

"He likes to get done."

"Forget done. He knew I wanted a picture."