"Jody Lynn Nye - Medecine Show" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nye Jody Lynn)

Weeks after escaping from the would-be assassin, the Sibyl's small shuttle floated lightly down through
clouds on a course that spiraled toward the surface of Poxt. As the cottony white vapors parted, they got
their first look at the main continent of the ottle planet.
"Blue Stars, look at all the trees!" Shona exclaimed, leaning forward against the impact straps. "I have
never seen forests like that in my life." Gershom reached back through the division beside the co-pilot's
couch for her hand, and squeezed it. Shona squeezed back appreciatively.
"It's beautiful," Lani breathed. Alexander was strapped in with her in the seat next to Shona. He crowed.
"I have never seen it from above," Chirwl said, clutching the top of Shona's chair with his sharp talons.
"When I left home this many ago I was hidden in a place aft to shelter from the machine I was not
familiar with riding in."
Ivo, in the shuttle's command seat, grunted. "You sure get a good view now."
The green canopy of the jungle below seemed to reach up toward them. By straining her eyes, Shona
could see less distinct patches of other colors: brilliant scarlet, deep gold, and a stunning electric blue,
plus strips of white along the natural gaps through which wide rivers ran. The white continued out over a
wide delta, and spread along the shore of the landmass, flanked on one side by the jungle greens and on
the other by aquamarine waters. Shona lost sight of the continent as the shuttle shot southward and
dropped another ten thousand feet, covering ocean and islands and ice cap. By the time they looped
around again, the continent was much closer. The brightly colored patches became distinctive groves of
trees, each with its own texture and height.
"Where do we land, Chirwl?" Shona asked. She had the ottle on her shoulders in his sleeping pouch,
which doubled as a backpack so she could carry the short-legged alien.
"I would not know," Chirwl said, awed by the sight of his home planet. "I don't know have references
from up here distance."
"I'm on beacon,"' Ivo said. "They got landing instructions on automatic. It's 'drive by automatic' No real
navigators gotta visit here."
"No one but ottles, scientists, and a diplomatic colony," Gershom noted. "Maybe they'll be eager to see a
trader. I won't mind if we can't make any deals while we're here, but it would be nice."
"Huh," said Ivo, as the shuttle dropped beneath the canopy of leaves. "The day you don't look for
business…" He glanced at the huge branches which were spread far enough apart to allow the shuttle to
pass between them, but were so heavily overgrown with leaves and vines that sunlight was cut by more
than half. He shrugged toward clusters of head-sized red globes hanging close to the enormous tree


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boles. "They're not going to want dried fruit, not with they own sources for fresh. What else we got?
Electronic parts?"
"Everyone always needs replacement parts," Shona said optimistically.
They passed over a barrel-shaped object topped with a flashing yellow light, and twin rows of bright
blue lights whose flashing chased toward the west.
"That's the beacon," Gershom said. Ivo nodded and flicked switches. The nose of the craft eased down
until the landing wheels were bumping over the uneven surface of a narrow field. "Where to from here?"
The ottle was bouncing up and down in his pouch. "From here I know," he said, almost babbling with
joy. "Do as this, please. See the black and red mark arrows upon the wall of the tree at the end of this
path? Follow there, then turn."
Ivo grunted, pushing levers and solenoids. The shuttle rumbled and coughed when its jets shut off and
the land engines came to life. Driving her like a truck, the pilot wheeled the shuttle toward planetary
north. The road, hewn out of raw forest along a wide, slow-flowing river, led to an irregular-shaped