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

tainly their own home world.
"If we bring back that information, there'll be no more
trouble with the Adderkops. Not after the League sends in
a few Staf class battleships and threatens to bombard
their planet. They realize as much. We were spotted;
several warcraft jumped us; we were lucky enough to
get away. Their ships are obsolete, and so far we've shown
them a clean pair of heels. But I hardly think they've quit
hunting for us. They'll send their entire fleet cruising in
search. Hyperdrive vibrations transmit instantaneously, and
can be detected up to about one light-year distance. So if
any Adderkop picks up our 'wake' and homes in on it-
with us crippled-that's the end."
She drew hard on her cigarette, but remained otherwise
calm. "What are your plans?"
"A countermove. Instead of trying to make Freya-uh
-I mean, we're proceeding in a search-helix at medium
speed, straining our own detectors. If we discover another
ship, we'll use the last gasp of our engine to close in.
If it's an Adderkop vessel, well, perhaps we can seize it or
something; we do have a couple of light guns in our
turrets. It may be a nonhuman craft, though. Our intelli-
gence reports, interrogation of prisoners, evaluation of ex-
plorers' observations, and so on, all indicate that three or
four different species in this region possess the hyperdrive.
The Adderkops themselves aren't certain about all of
them. Space is so damned huge."
"If it does turn out to be nonhuman?"
"Then we'll do what seems indicated;"
"I see." Her bright head nodded. She sat for a while,
unspeaking, before she dazzled him with a smile. "Thanks,
Captain. You don't know how much you've helped me."
Torrance suppressed a foolish grin. "A pleasure, Free-
lady."
"I'm coming to Earth with you. Did you know that?
Freeman Van Rijn has promised me a very good job."
He always does, thought Torrance.
Jeri leaned closer. "I hope we'll have a chance on the
Earthward trip to get better acquainted, Captain. Or even
right now."
The alarm bell chose that moment to ring.

The Hebe G.B. was a yacht, not a buccaneer frigate.
When Nicholas van Rijn was aboard, though, the distinc-
tion sometimes got a little blurred. So she had more legs
than most ships, detectors of uncommon sensitivity, and
a crew experienced in the tactics of overhauling.
She was able to get a bearing on the hyperemission of
the other craft long before her own vibrations were ob-
served. Pacing the unseen one, she established the set