"Larry Niven - Beowulf's Children (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

EDGAR SIKES: Computer specialist; son of Joe Sikes and Sikes's first wife.

Bottle Babies

AARON TRAGON: Unofficial leader of the Star Born.
STU ELLINGTON: Mathematician, skeeter pilot.
CHAKA MUBUTU ("LITTLE CHAKA"): Biologist; adopted son of Big Chaka.
TRISH CHANCE: Bodybuilder.
DERIK CRISP: Hunter, Grendel Scout Supervisor.
TOSHIRO TANAKA: Sensei to the Star Born; karate and yoga instructor.

Grendel Biters

CAREY LOU DAVIDSON
HEATHER MCKENNIE
SHARON MCANDREWS

OTHERS

CASSANDRA: An artificial intelligence.
OLD GRENDEL
LONG MAMA: Not precisely an eel.
TARZAN, ZWEIBACK, and others: Chamels.
COLD ONE: A snow grendel.
THE QUEEN: A lake grendel.
ASIA: A Scribe.

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Beowulf's Children
Prologue

CAMPFIRE

"Once upon a long, long time ago, our parents and grandparents left a place
called Earth. They traveled across the stars in a ship called Geographic to
find paradise. But their paradise turned into a living hell..."
The campfire jetted white flame as it reached a gum pocket in the horsemane
log. The flame held for almost a minute, then died back to glowing coals. A
cast-iron skillet balanced on firestones sizzled in the embers. A sudden gust
momentarily sent sparks toward the misty night sky and the stars frozen
overhead.
A dozen wide-eyed youngsters were packed shoulder tight on makeshift seats of
logs and stones, huddled expectantly in the dying firelight. They had waited
all their lives for this night.
Justin Faulkner's voice growled, caressed, leapt, burned hotter than the
ebbing flames. "From the stars they came," he stage-whispered. "Seeking to
build homes where no human had ever walked. Avalon was a land untamed,
stretching beneath a sky strange to human eyes. A paradise for the taking.
These men and women were the best, the smartest and the bravest Earth could