За разломом орла

           Suzycameoutofthefog,tuggingherownmaskaside. 

           "Nojoywiththerunemonkeys,"shesaid."NothingtheyweresellingIhadn’tseenamilliontimesbefore.Fuckingcowboys." 

           "Itdoesn’tmatter,"Isaid."We’releavinganyway." 

           Rayswore.IpretendedIhadn’theardhim. 

           *** 

           Iwasalwaysthelastoneintoasurgetank. IneverwentunderuntilIwassurewewereabouttogetthegreenlight. Itgavemeachancetocheckthingsover. Thingscanalwaysgowrong,nomatterhowgoodthecrew. 

           TheBlueGoosehadcometoastopneartheAAbeaconthatmarkedthesurgepoint. Therewereafewothershipsaheadofusinthequeue,plustheusualswarmofAAservicecraft. ThroughanobservationblisterIwasabletowatchthelargershipsdepartonebyone. Acceleratingatmaximumpower,theyseemedtostreaktowardacompletelyfeaturelesspartofthesky. Theirjibswerespreadwide,andthesmoothlinesoftheirhullsweregnarledanddisfiguredwiththecrypticalienrunesoftheroutingsyntax. Attwentygeesitwasasifahugeinvisiblehandsnatchedthemawayintothedistance. Ninetysecondslater,there’dbeapalegreenflashfromathousandkilometresaway. 

           Itwistedaroundintheblister. Thereweretheforeshortenedsymbolsofourroutingsyntax. Eachruneofthescriptwasformedfromamatrixofmillionsofhexagonalplatelets. Theplateletswereonmotorssotheycouldbepushedinoroutfromthehull. 

           AsktheApertureAuthorityandthey’lltellyouthatthesyntaxisnowfullyunderstood. Thisistrue,butonlyuptoapoint.