He was Qeng Ho ... and he was also godshatter. Both Riders were in the same cabin,
复件 (12) air max2, Greenstalk in the other copy of the ship's surgeon. Pham opened a window on the room. Blueshell sat on a wall beside the surgeon. He looked wilted, as when they heard about Sjandra Kei. He angled his fronds at the video pickup. "Sir Pham. The ship tells me you've suspended our privileges?" "What is going on, Pham?" Ravna had dug a foot into the floor, and stood glaring at him. Pham ignored both questions. "How is Greenstalk doing?" he said. The fronds turned away, seemed to become even more limp. "She lives.... I thank you, Sir Pham. It took great skill to do what you did. Considering everything, I could not have asked for more." What did I do? He remembered firing on Greenstalk. Had he pulled his aim? He looked inside the surgeon. This was quite different from the human configuration: This one was mostly water-filled,
复件 (15) air max1, with turbulent aeration along the patient's fronds. Asleep (?), Greenstalk looked frailer than he remembered, her fronds waving randomly in the water. Some were nicked, but her body seemed whole. His eyes traveled downwards toward the base of the stalk, where a Rider is normally attached to its skrode. The stump ended in a cloud of surgical tubing. And Pham remembered the last instant of the firefight, blasting the skrode out from under Greenstalk. What is a Rider like without anything to ride? He pulled his eyes away from the wreckage. "I've deleted your command privileges because I don't trust you." My former friend, tool of my enemy. Blueshell didn't answer. After a moment Ravna spoke. "Pham. Without Blueshell, I'd never have gotten you out of that habitat. Even then -- we were stuck in the middle of the RIP system. The shepherd satellite was screaming for our blood; they had figured out we were human. The Aprahanti were trying to break harbor and come down on us. Without Blueshell, we'd never have convinced local security to let us go ultra -- we'd probably have been blown away the second we cleared the ring plane. We'd all be dead now,
mbt kisumu2 white, Pham." "Don't you know what happened down there?" Some of the indignation left Ravna's face. "Yes. But understand about skrodes. They are a mechanical contrivance. It's easy enough to disconnect the cyber part from the mechanical linkages. These guys were controlling the wheels, and aiming the gun." Hmm. On the window behind Ravna, he could see Blueshell standing with his fronds motionless, not rushing to agree. Triumphant? "That doesn't explain Greenstalk's sucking us in to the trap." He raised a hand. "Yeah,
复件 (5) air max2, I know, she was bludgeoned into doing it. Only problem, Ravna, she had no hesitation. She was enthusiastic, bubbly." He stared over the woman's shoulder. "She was under no compulsion, didn't you tell me that, Blueshell." A long pause. Finally,
复件 (20) air max1, "Yes, Sir Pham." Ravna turned, drifting back so she could see both of them. "But, but ... it's still absurd. Greenstalk has been with us from the beginning. A thousand times she could have destroyed the ship -- or gotten word to the outside. Why chance this stupid ambush?" "Yes. Why didn't they betray us before...." Up until she asked the question, Pham had not known. He knew the facts,
复件 (69) air max, but had no coherent theory to hang them on. Now it all came together: the ambush, his dreams in the surgeon, even the paradoxes. "Maybe she wasn't a traitor, before. We really did escape from Relay without pursuit, without anyone knowing of us, much less our exact destination. Certainly no one expected humans to show up at Harmonious Repose."
mbt kisumu2 white
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