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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
indicates to me that the El Dorado, as Mr. Perez calls it, is somewhere to the
east and relatively close to us here. However" he shifted his finger "when
Carmen and
I flew over the Dead Sea last month, we found very similar deposits but on the
northwest shoreline."
There was only one logical conclusion, and Meredith reached it without
trouble.
"Mt. Olympus. The volcano."
Hafner nodded solemnly. "Mt. Olympus except that it's not a volcano. The rocks
don't show the characteristics of lava flow, and the overall shape doesn't fit
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with the viscosity of the samples I took." He hesitated, but only for a
second. "Colonel, I realize all this sounds pretty unbelievable, and I'm
painfully aware there are a lot of questions I haven't got even half-baked
answers for yet. But what happened today can't be explained by any science I
know of "
"You want to take an expedition to Olympus for a closer look?" Meredith
interjected mildly.
"Yes, sir. And the sooner the better."
The colonel shifted his attention to Carmen. "I take it you've already checked
out the logistics?"
She reddened a bit. "Almost everything Dr. Hafner would need seems to be
available, sir," she said. "I haven't logged any orders yet, of course, but
all it would really involve would be pulling one of the flyers off survey work
and three or four mountain-trained soldiers from routine duty."
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Zahn, Timothy - Spinneret
"A pilot?"
"I thought I'd do that myself. All the pilots are technically due for
downtime, anyway."
"Um. Actually, Doctor, your theory sounds a lot more believable than anything
else I've heard this afternoon. When do you want to leave?"
"Just a minute, Colonel," Perez cut in before Hafner could speak. "I don't
know whether you two cooked up this bafflegab smokescreen together or whether
it was a solo effort, but it is not going to get you out of answering my
charges of mismanagement."
Behind Perez, Hafner took a half step forward. "Unless you have a couple of
advanced degrees I don't know about, I'd suggest you keep blanket assessments
to yourself," he told the Hispanic shortly. " know what I'm talking about,
and I
I
doubt very much that you do."
"And as to your ridiculous charges " Meredith began.
"Why don't you come with us tomorrow, Cris?" Carmen interrupted suddenly.
All three men looked at her. "To Olympus?" Perez frowned. His eyes flicked to
each of the others, as if looking for a trap. "Why?"
"Why not? It would give you the chance to see Peter test his theories. You
could be sort of an unofficial observer for the Council."
"The Council doesn't need any observers there unofficial or not," Meredith
growled.
Perez sent a tight smile in the colonel's direction. "Your point is well
taken, Miss
Olivero," he said, bowing his head briefly. "I accept. With the doctor's
permission, naturally."
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Carmen shifted her eyes to Hafner. "Peter?"
Hafner's expression was that of a man facing a tax audit, but he shrugged
fractionally. "As long as he stays out of the way," he said. "We're leaving
before sunrise, though I want to be ready to start climbing as soon as it's
light enough."
Perez's smile this time had a trace of bitterness to it. "Those of us who work
the fields are used to rising early."
"Um." Hafner's irritation seemed to soften a bit. "Well, be at Martello by
four o'clock. Colonel, thank you for your time and permission on this. I hope
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we'll have some answers for you when we get back." He took Carmen's arm and
together they left the office.
"You're invited out, too," Meredith told Perez.
"Of course." The Hispanic walked to the door, paused with his hand on the
knob.
"But this matter is not settled, Colonel. Miss Olivero's efforts to sidetrack
me have merely postponed the inevitable." Turning, he wrenched open the door
and strode through it.
Deliver me from demagogues
. With a sigh, Meredith let himself sag from the straight-backed military
posture he'd adopted for Perez's benefit. Once, he'd thought this command
would be the sure way to that long-awaited general's star;
later, as the survey reports came in, his optimism had waned, replaced by grim
determination. After today
After today, he'd be lucky to keep his eagles. Or his butt.
But until the scapegoat-hunters in Congress got to him, he was still in
charge; and neither hell, high water, Perez, nor Astra itself was going to
change that.
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zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plkwiatpolny.htw.pl
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Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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