I am Jade Falcon by Robert Thurston

Author:Robert Thurston [Thurston, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780451453808
Publisher: Penguin Group (Canada)
Published: 1995-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

16

Falcon Guard Headquarters

Pattersen, Sudeten

Jade Falcon Occupation Zone

1 August 3057

Joanna was not prepared for the latest collection of spare parts that was Kael Pershaw. The man had been taken apart and put back together so often that she could not tell anymore which part of him was prosthetic and which was still human. That single eye, glaring out from under a thick eyebrow—that had to be human. Half of his face, as ever, was masked, hiding behind whatever disfigurement was beneath. She thought the mouth was not reconstructed, or at least the half of it she could see coming out from behind the mask seemed real. One of the hands. Maybe an ear. But the reality of the rest of him certainly debatable.

The way he walked around the room had changed from the old Pershaw limp. One leg used to drag slightly after the other. Now he seemed to require great effort to move them both. He did not so much breathe as force his chest out and in. If either of his arms was good, she could not perceive since both swung with the same leaden motion. One of the arms was definitely fake, but she had forgotten which one.

Ravill Pryde's replacement parts, on the other hand, were entirely human—changes of expression, attitude, and even posture that Joanna took a special joy in. Around Kael Pershaw he was nervous and deferential. Something was up, she could tell.

The only unaltered individual in the room was Galaxy Commander Marthe Pryde, a warrior as famous for her heroism as for the fact that she originated from the same sibko as the celebrated Aidan Pryde—one of the sibkos that Joanna had trained as a falconer on Ironhold. Joanna thought Marthe looked the same. Even though she was within shooting distance of undesirable warrior age, she still seemed young. Age was suggested only in her guarded eyes. For Joanna, Marthe's resemblance to Aidan was disconcerting.

"Star Commander Joanna," Pershaw said, his voice low and somewhat mechanical, as if electronically enhanced. "It is good to see you again. It has been a long while since Glory Station, quiaff?"

"Aff. Very long." Joanna did not like admitting that, since—in Pershaw's presence—it made her own advanced age so much more obvious.

"I, too, have not encountered Star Commander Joanna in some time," Marthe Pryde said.

Joanna stared at Marthe's outthrust hand as if she were being offered a dangerous reptile. But it was just a handshake, a firm and confident one.

What are they up to? Why are they buttering me up? Is this the way they treat a warrior on her way to becoming a nanny?

"Star Colonel Pryde," Pershaw said to Ravill. "You already know our mission. It is not necessary for you to remain here, quiaff?"

"But I—"

"It is not necessary for you to remain, quiaff?" Pershaw's voice had become harsh, a sound grating enough back in his command days at Glory Station, but uttered more like an edict from some god these days. Ravill Pryde bowed crisply to his superior and immediately strode out of the office.

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.