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Cate Dean [Love in Time 01] Final Hours (epub)
Bianca Dean Quarterback Sneak [MF] (epub) i
Cameron Dean Candace Steele Plomienne Pragnienie
Cassandra Dean Slumber [Decadent, Beyond Fairy
Campbell Alan Kodeks Deepgate Zelazny Aniol
Campbell Alan Kodeks Deepgate Bog Zegarow
Chasse a mort Dean Koontz
Atrapados en el hielo Dean R. Koontz
Drzwi do grudnia Dean R. Koontz
boundless dean vivien

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.Not all the enemy had succeeded in avoiding or fleeing destruction.One severely damaged vessel was discovered drifting motionless in orbit, unable to move, unable to seek sanctuary in Underspace.It was a great stroke of luck.The brief but intense moments of spatial combat between ships only infrequently produced survivors.This was due to the types of weapons used and the unforgiving nature of space itself, whose harsh conditions usually finished what complex weapons had begun.A Segunian-commanded warship had located such a vessel.Whether its internal life-support systems had survived intact and functioning remained to be determined, but One-who-Decides was hopeful.Time and careful handling eased the captured vessel alongside the much larger flagship.Its shape was different from those used by the Peoples, but not incomprehensibly so.It was possible to divine function from observation.Its drive was inoperative, but external inspection showed no evidence of implosion.Its builders were skilled.Analysis revealed that the light which emerged from unbroken ports filled a normal chunk of the spectrum, suggesting that the crew possessed good vision within familiar parameters.The presence of oxygen and nitrogen in common proportions was noted.Short of confrontation there was little means of judging physical shape, size, or capability.That was shortly to be remedied by a boarding party.They would go in prepared to deal with resistance but admonished above all else to secure live specimens.Limited resistance there was, stubborn and frustrating.It was overcome by the introduction of a mild soporific into the ship’s ventilation system.A short while later it proved possible to extract the survivors one by one, like so many seeds from a pod.It developed that the appearance of the Sspari’s unexpected allies was to be but the first of many surprises.Instead of finding representatives of one race as was normal, the boarders encountered individuals representing several different species.That much was self-evident even to nonspecialists, who were used to dealing with races whose types could include miniature workers, multiple sexes, or androgynous types like the Amplitur themselves.That was not the case on board the captured vessel.Its crew was clearly composed of members of half a dozen different species, all working in apparent harmony and cooperation.It was a discovery fraught with promise as much as threat.For while it meant that the Amplitur and their allies might now have half a dozen new races to battle, it also introduced as many to be integrated into the Purpose.The Amplitur were overjoyed.For the first time they had encountered a federation of races other than their own.Here was a group of intelligences which had learned to cooperate among themselves without the Purpose to guide them.There was much to be learned from this discovery.Not all the ships which had come to aid the Sspari had been destroyed.A number had escaped to warn their fellows.That was to be regretted, since it would have been useful to maintain surprise.The Amplitur were not long on regret.It was a waste of protein.They would cope as they had always coped.The diversity of the captured vessel’s crew was impressive.There were even non-oxynitro-breathers aboard: two methane-suckers and one which extracted oxygen from water.Nor were the captives awed by the force they had encountered.They believed that their own federation rivaled in strength that of the Peoples of the Purpose.The delight of the Amplitur was magnified tenfold.It called itself the Weave.When joined to what the Amplitur had laboriously constructed, it would effectively double in size the Peoples of the Purpose.A revelation of great import, which the Amplitur recognized with a conference on board the flagship of the expeditionary force.A few high officers among the allied races spoke out against the meeting, lest the Sspari launch a last, desperate attack and catch all the Amplitur vulnerable on a single ship.The possibility did not trouble the Amplitur.Given such an unlikely happenstance, a Molitar or Korath could take over and finish the resultant battle effectively.The Amplitur regretted the dependence which their allies occasionally displayed.Did they not realize that within the Purpose, all peoples were equal?Fast-blue-Breeder had requested the meeting.The moment needed to be commemorated.As they gathered aboard the flagship there was much intertwining of tentacles tips and soft husking of mouthparts.Despite the stress of the expedition and attendant combat, two of the Amplitur were reproducing [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]