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J McKenna: Slave Planet

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J McKenna Slave Planet

Slave Planet: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

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When five female astronauts were named to pilot the latest interstellar scout ship, the U.S.S. Letanya, it didn't take long for the wags to dub it, the "Lesbanya." Even in 2075, an all-woman crew was met with snickers and jokes by late-night comedians. Capt. Kathryn Dyson was out to prove them wrong. When they discovered a strange new world with humanoid life long before any male explorers did, it seemed NASA's shaky faith in the mission would be justified. Unfortunately, some of the crew got themselves captured by the huge man-like beings on the planet and turned into slaves. Now it's up to Kate Dyson to rescue her crew or die trying, because she's not going back without them, despite NASA's orders. Can she avoid becoming just another sex object on...

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The control panel beeped. The other crew members were being awakened. Kate wanted to be there.

Chapter 2

Kate stood by the cocoon as the air hissed into it, releasing her second-in-command, Commander Allyson Egerton. Of all the women in the space program, Kate was glad NASA had assigned the smart, funny, self-deprecating redhead to the crew. She had met Ally eight years ago and the two hit it off right away. Kate couldn’t have picked a better, more qualified “No. 1.”

She waited until Ally’s eyes fluttered open, then grinned at the groggy crew woman. “Reveille was,” Kate made a show of looking at her watch, “214 days ago, commander. You planning on sleeping through the entire trip?”

“Sorry, captain. Forgot to set my alarm,” Ally smiled back and allowed Kate to help her from the cocoon. She pulled at her panties and grimaced. “God. Can’t wait to get out of these.”

Kate smiled. Ally took one look and said, “Oh, tell me you didn’t, captain.”

Kate laughed and wagged her finger. She had told Ally many times of her distaste for the paper panties. “Careful, that could be construed as insubordination, No. 1. However, I will tell you that being the captain gives one certain small prerogatives, including the right not to wear the god-awful things.”

Ally laughed. “You’d change your tune if something had gone wrong and you were awakened half-naked twenty years in the future by horny scavengers.”

Kate smiled enigmatically. “After twenty years in space, they’d better watch out for me.” She wondered what Ally would have thought about her little “self-help” session a while ago.

Ally turned serious. “How we doing, sir? Board green?”

Kate nodded. Though some female commanders preferred to be called “ma’am,” Kate hated the term—“sounds like a whorehouse madam or a librarian,” she’d say. Over the years, “sir” had become more gender neutral, and Kate’s crew learned early to call her by that respectful title. “Everything is perfect. We’re about two hours from the end of warp, coming in on course, on time.”

The commander breathed a sigh of relief. While Kate had told none of the other women on board about Hunter’s conversation, she did share it with Ally, so they’d be on the same page if anything went wrong. Both women knew they were really on their own out here.

“Well, I’ve got about twenty minutes before the other capsules open, so with your permission, captain, I’d like to take a quick shower and get more presentable.” The capsules were timed that way so the superior officers could be in uniform before the others woke up. It bolstered the chain of command.

Kate nodded. “Have everyone join us on the bridge when they’re all freshened up.” She turned away and headed back up the corridor.

One hour and fifteen minutes later, the crew had gathered on the bridge. They chatted with each other like old friends, though they had been together just four months before liftoff. Seven months in cyrosleep can make a person downright chatty, Kate supposed.

She looked them over, as if seeing them for the first time. Because the crew was so small, everyone pulled double duty except Kate. Allyson, in addition to serving as second-in-command, used her knowledge of computers to ride herd on the electronic systems.

Greta Hanson, a cool, tall blonde, served as the mission commander and the geologist. She hoped mightily that they would find a Class M planet that she could explore. As mission commander, she would lead the away team.

She was a good two inches taller than Kate and she used her physical presence to her full advantage. She was competent, but opinionated. Greta had a response to nearly every command. Kate was already tired of her. However, Greta had the credentials—a hot-shot pilot who had served three trips on previous missions.

Beth Reyes, the medical officer and anthropologist, was a tremendous asset to the mission, Kate thought. She had been a surgeon before joining NASA to satisfy her urge to visit the stars. Beth was far more than just another EMT on board. Kate didn’t think there was anything she couldn’t handle. A short, heavyset Latina, she had long dark hair that she normally kept up in a bun. Today, however, she wore it down after her long slumber and the brief shower to let it air dry.

Kate liked the woman—she had a good sense of humor and was eager to help the team. Kate knew if she ever got to pick her crew, Beth would be her second choice, right after Allyson.

The final member of the crew was Lt. Commander Jorja Smith, the engineer and botanist. It was her job to keep the ship running smoothly—or “hot, straight and normal,” as she liked to say. At six-feet and a muscular 180 pounds, Jorja was taller than Greta and outweighed the slender Swede. Jorja called herself “big boned” and she lived life with the same appetite she had for a good meal. With the freeze-dried food out here in space, she claimed she might waste away and became a runway model when she got back.

Kate liked the woman because she wasn’t flashy about her competence like Greta was. And the engineer never tried to intimidate the captain with her size. She completely trusted Jorja to fix any problem with the ship—Kate just didn’t want any problems on this mission.

Kate called the chit-chat to a halt. “OK, listen up. We’re about to drop out of warp and into history. You all know the importance of this mission. I want nothing to go wrong. We’re going to take this one step at a time. Please double-check everything as you go.

“I know you all would love to be the first to find intelligent life. So would I. It would really put us on equal footing with the other astronauts.” Everyone knew Kate meant “men.”

“But it’s more important to me that we do our jobs and return home safely than find anything at all. That being said, I’ll be keeping our fingers crossed, the same as you.” Kate looked at the chronograph. “We’ve got thirty-five minutes until the end of warp. We want to be strapped in and have every system checked out. You know we might run into a debris field as soon as we arrive, so I want to make sure the shields are at maximum.”

“The power from the warp engines should switch over automatically,” Greta put in.

Kate tried not to show her annoyance. “Yes, I know. I want Jorja to monitor that process closely.” She wanted to add, “because it’s her job, not yours,” but she knew Greta was just being Greta.

“There are seven planets in the Denoba system, as you know. The sun is similar to ours, so we might get lucky. We should drop out of warp about ten thousand kilometers from Altair, the outermost planet. We’re going to probe the first two, as we already know these gas giants can’t support life as we know it. And the two planets closest to the sun are likely too hot. When we approach the fifth, fourth and third planets, in order, we’ll take more time. Keep your fingers crossed.”

The captain glanced over her display panel. “As you know, NASA regs require everyone to have a quick checkup after a prolonged warp sleep, so as soon as we finish our reports, I’ll want Dr. Reyes to begin calling us one-by-one into sick bay.”

“Will there be time for personal messages home?” Beth asked.

Kate nodded. “I know you’re missing your families. After I give the report, you can tell your families how much fun you’re having up here.” There was nervous laughter.

Because they were so far away, communication was difficult. It took messages one hour and forty-two minutes to reach Earth and a similar amount of time for a message to return. That meant it would be at least three-and-a-half hours before NASA could respond and far longer for any personal messages to arrive from the families.

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