"Anderson, Poul - 1964 Nicholas Van Rijn 02 - Trader to the Stars 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anderson Poul)

Torrance wet his lips. "I'd rather speak to you alone,
sir."
He saw the color leave Jeri's face. She was no coward.
Frontier planets, even the pleas~t ones like Freya, didn't
breed that sort. She had come along on what she knew
would be a hazardous trip because a chance like this to
get an in with the merchant prince of the Solar Spice &
Liquors Company, which was one of the major forces
within the whole Polesotechnic League--was too good for
an opportunistic girl to refuse. She had kept her nerve
during the fight and the subsequent escape, though death
came very close. But they were still far from her planet,
among unknown stars, with the enemy hunting them.
"So go in the bedroom," Van Rijn ordered her.
"Please," she whispered. "I'd be happier hearing the
truth."
The small black eyes, set close to Van Rijn's hook nose,
flared. "Foulness and fulminate!" he bellowed. "What is
this poppies with cocking? When I say frog, by billy damn,
you jump!"
She sprang to her feet, mutinous. Without rising, he
slapped her on the appropriate spot. It sounded like a
pistol going off. She gasped, choked back an indignant
screech, and stamped into the inner suite. Van Rijn rang
for the steward.
"More beer this calls for," he said to-Torrence. "Well,
don't stand there making bug's eyes! I got no time for
fumblydiddles, even if you overpaid loafer do. I got to
make revises of all price schedules on pepper and nut-
meg for Freya before we get there. Satan and stenches!
At least ten percent more that idiot of a factor could
charge them, and not reduce volume of sales. I swear it!
All good saints, hear me and help a poor old man saddled
with oatmeal-brained squatpots for workers!"
Torrance curbed his temper with an effort. "Very well,
sir. I just had a report from Y amamura. You know we
took a near miss during the fight, which hulled us at the
engine room. The converter didn't seem damaged, but
after patching the hole, the gang's been checking to make
sure. And it turns out that about half the circuitry for the
infrashield generator was fused. We can't replace more
than a fraction of it. If we continue to run at full quasi-
speed, we'll bum out the whole converter in another fifty
hours."
"Ah, s-s-so." Van Rijn grew serious. The snap of the
lighter, as he toucbed it to his pipe, came startlingly
loud. "No chance of stopping altogether to make fixings?
Once out of hyperdrive, we would be much too small a
thmg for the bestinkered aderkops to find. Hey?"
"No, sir. I said we haven't enough replacement parts.