Revelation Space 1 - Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds

Author:Alastair Reynolds
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2010-12-10T23:30:53+00:00

Which left Khouri. There was no arguing with her experience; unlike any of the crew, she had demonstrably been born and raised on a planet, and -- vitally -- had seen action on one. It was probable -- nothing she had heard led her to doubt the fact -- that the Sky's Edge war had placed her in situations far graver than any the crew had experienced beyond their ship. Their excursions had been shopping trips, trade missions or simple tourism; coming down to gloat at the compressed lives of ephemerals. Khouri had been in situations where, at times, it had seemed very unlikely that she would survive. Yet -- because she had never been anything less than a competent soldier, and she was also lucky -- she had come through relatively unscathed.

No one aboard the ship actually argued with this.

'It's not that we wouldn't want you along,' Volyova had said, not long after the incident with the cache-weapon. 'Far from it. I've no doubt that you'd handle a suit as well as any of us, and you wouldn't be likely to freeze under fire.'

'Well, then...'

'But I can't risk losing my Gunnery Officer again.' They had been having the discussion in the spider-room, but Volyova had lowered her voice all the same. 'Only three people need to go down to Resurgam, and that means we don't have to use you. Apart from me, Sudjic and Kjarval can handle the suits. In fact we've already begun training up.'

'Then at least let me join in the sessions.'

Volyova had raised an arm, apparently to dismiss this suggestion. But as soon as she had done so she relented. 'All right, Khouri. You get to train with us. But it doesn't mean anything, understand?'

Oh yes, she understood. Things were different between Khouri and Volyova now -- they had been ever since Khouri had told Volyova the lie about being an infiltrator for another crew. The Mademoiselle had long ago primed her for that particular little chat and it seemed to have worked perfectly, even down to the sly way the Galatea -- completely innocent, of course -- had deliberately not been mentioned, leaving Volyova to make that deduction herself, and thereby allowing her to feel some quiet satisfaction in the process. It was a red herring, but it mattered only that Volyova found it a plausible one. Volyova had also accepted the story about Sun Stealer being a piece of human-designed infiltration software, and for now her curiosity seemed satisfied. Now they were almost equals, both having something to hide from the rest of the crew, even if what Volyova thought she had on Khouri was not even close to the truth.

'I understand,' Khouri said.

'Still, it's a shame, though.' Volyova smiled. 'I get the impression you always wanted to meet Sylveste. You'll get your chance, of course, once we bring him aboard...'

Khouri smiled. 'That'll have to do then, won't it?'

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.