"Jane Yolen - Pit Dragon 02 - Heart's Blood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Yolen Jane)

Austar IV IS the fourth planet of a seven-planet rim system in the Erato Galaxy. Once a penal colony,
marked KK29 on the convict map system, it is a semi-and, metal-poor world with two moons.

Austar is covered by vast deserts, some of which are cut through by small and irregularly surfacing hot
springs, several small sections of fenlands, and zones of almost impenetrable mountains. There are only
five major rivers: the Narrakka, the Rokk, the Brokk-bend, the Kkar, and the Left Forkk.

Few plants grow in the deserts-some fruit cacti and sparse longtrunk palm trees known as spikka. The
most populous plants on Austar are two wild-flowering bushes called bumwort and blisterweed. (See
color section.) The mountain vegetation is only now being cataloged but promises to be much more
extensive than originally thought.

There is a variety of insect and pseudolizard life, the latter ranging from small rock-runners to
elephant-size dragons. (See Holo section, Vol. 6.) Unlike Earth reptilia, the Austarian dragon lizards are
warmblooded, with pneumaticized bones for reduction of weight and a keeled stemum where the flight
muscles are attached. They have membranous wings with jointed ribs that fold back along the animals’
bodies when the dragons are earthbound. Stretched to the fullest, an adult dragon’s wings are twice its
body size. The “feathers” are really light scales that adjust to wind pressure. From claw to shoulder,
some specimens of Austarian dragons have been measured at thirteen feet. There is increasing evidence
of level 4+ intelligence and a colorcoded telepathic mode of communication in the Austarian dragons.
These great beasts were almost extinct when the planet was first settled by convicts (KKS being the
common nickname) and guards from Earth in 2303. But several generations later the Austarians
domesticated the few remaining dragons, selectively breeding them for meat and leather and the gaming
arenas-or, as they were known from earliest times, the Pits.

The dragon Pits of Austar IV were more than just the main entertainment for early KKS. Over the years
the Pits became central to the Austarian economy. Betting syndicates developed and Federation starship
crews on long rimworld voyages began to frequent the planet on gambling forays.

Because such gambling violated cur-rent Galaxian law, illegal offworld gamesters were expelled in 2485,
from Austar IV and imprisoned on penal planet KK47, a mining colony where most of the surface is
ice-covered. Under pressure from the Federation, the Austarians then drafted a Protectorate constitution
spelling out the Federation’s administrative role in the economy of the planet, including regulation of the
gambling of offworlders and the payment of taxes (which Austarians call tithing) on gambling moneys in
exchange for starship landing bases. A fluid caste system of masters and bond slaves-the remnants of the
convict-guard hierarchy-was established by law, with a bond price set as an entrance fee into the master
class. Established at the same time was a senate, the members of which came exclusively from the master
class. The Senate performs both the executive and the legislative functions of the Austarian government
and, for the most part, represents the interests of the Federation. As in all Protectorate planets,
offworlders are subject to local laws and are liable to the same punishments for breaking them.

The Rokk, which was a fortress inhabited by the original ruling guards and their families when Austar IV
was a penal planet, is now the capital city and the starship landfall.
The entire Erato Galaxy is still only in the first stages of Protectorate status. However, because of the
fighting Pit dragons, Austar IV has become one of the better-known R & R planets in the explored
universe.

Excerpt from The Encyclopedia Galaxia, Thirtieth edition, vol. I: Aaabomia-BASE

chapter 1