"Timothy Zahn - Cobra 2 - Cobra Strike" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

partner for nearly 14 years now, but Corwin still remembered vividly the undercurrent of fear that
he'd grown up with. Most of the Council had even stronger memories than that: the Troft occupation
of the Dominion worlds Silvern and Adirondack had occurred only 43 years ago, ulti-
COBRA STRIKE 9
mately becoming the impetus for the original Cobra project. It was no accident that most of the
people who now dealt physically with the Troft traders were in their early twenties. Only the
younger Aventinians could face the aliens without wincing.
The Troft paused at the edge of the table, waiting as the Council members dug out translator-link
earphones and inserted them. One or two of the younger syndics didn't bother, and Corwin felt a
flicker of jealousy as he adjusted his own earphone to low volume. He'd taken the same number of
courses in catertalk as they had, but it was obvious that foreign language comprehension wasn't
even close to being his forte.
"Men and women of the Cobra Worlds Council," the earphone murmured to him. "I am Speaker One of
the Tlos'khin'fahi demesne of the TroFte Assemblage." The alien's high-pitched catertalk continued
for a second beyond the translation; both races had early on decided that the first three
parasyllables of Troft demesne titles were more than adequate for human use, and that a literal
transcription of the aliens' proper names was a waste of effort. "The Tlos'khin'fahi demesne-lord
has sent your own demesne-lord's request for data to the other parts of the Assemblage and the
result has been a triad offer from the Pualanek'zia and Baliu'ckha'spmi demesnes."
Corwin grimaced. He'd never liked deals involving two or more Troft demesnes, both because of the
delicate political balance the Worlds often had to strike and because the humans never heard much
about the Troft-Troft arm of such bargains. That arm had to exist—the individual demesnes seldom
if ever gave anything away to each other.
The same line of thought appeared to have tracked its way elsewhere through the room. "You speak
of a triad, instead of a quad offer," Governor Dylan Fairleigh spoke up. "What part does the
Tlos'khin'fahi demesne expect to play?"
10
Timothy Zahn
"My demense-lord chooses the role of catalyst," was the prompt reply. "No fee will be forthcoming
for our role." The Troft fingered something on his abdomen sash and Corwin's display lit up with a
map showing the near half of the Troft Assemblage. Off on one edge three stars began blinking red.
"The Cobra Worlds," the alien unnecessarily identified them. A quarter of the way around the bulge
a single star, also outside Troft territory, flashed green. "The world named Qasama by its
natives. They are described by the Baliu'ckha'spmi demesne-lord as an alien race of great
potential danger to the Assemblage. Here—" a vague-edged sphere appeared at the near side of the
flashing green star— "somewhere, is a tight cluster of five worlds capable of supporting human
life. The Pua'lanek'zia demesne-lord will give you their location and an Assemblage pledge of
human possession if your Cobras will undertake to eliminate the threat of Qasama. I will await
your decision."
The Troft turned and left ... and only slowly did Corwin realize he was holding his breath. Five
brand-new worlds ... for the price of becoming mercenaries.
He wondered if the Troft had any idea of the size snakepit he'd just opened.
If the alien didn't, the Council certainly did. For the better part of a minute the room was
silent as an isolation tank as each member apparently tried to track through the tangle of
implications. Finally, Stiggur cleared his throat. "While we of course have no intention of
replying to this offer today, or even to fully discuss its relative merits, I would nevertheless
appreciate hearing whatever initial reactions you might have."
"I, for one, would like a little more information before we listen to any hard-wired-reflex
comments," Governor Lizabet Telek said. Her perennially gravelly voice gave no clue to her own
reaction. "Something about these new aliens would be nice for