"Blish, James - Earth of Hours" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blish James)

of vodka. Robin coughed convulsively and sat up, blinking.
"Your Excellencyhowwhat's happened? I thought we
were dead. But we've got lights again, and gravity."
He was observant, that had to be granted. "The lights are
ours but the gravity is Calle's," 12-Upjohn explained tersely.
"We're in a part of the ship that cracked up."
"Well, it's good that we've got power."
"We can't afford to be philosophical about it. Whatever
shape it's in, this derelict is a thoroughly conspicuous object
and we'd better get out of it in a hurry."
"Why?" Robin said. "We were supposed to make contact
with these people. Why not just sit here until they notice
and come to see us?"
"Suppose they just blast us to smaller bits instead? They
didn't stop to parley with the fleet, you'll notice."
"This is a different situation," Robin said stubbornly.
"I wouldn't have stopped to parley with that fleet myself, if
I'd had the means of knocking it out first. It didn't look a bit
like a diplomatic mission. But why should they be afraid of
a piece of a wreck?"
The Consort of State stroked the back of his neck re-
flectively. The boy had a point. It was risky; on the other
hand, how long would they survive foraging in completely
unknown territory? And yet obviously they couldn't stay
cooped up in here foreverespecially if it was true that there
was already no water.
He was spared having to make up his mind by a halloo
from the direction of the office. After a startled stare at
each other, the two hit the deck running.
Sergeant Oberholzer's face was peering grimly through
the split in the bulkhead.
"Oho," he said. "So you did make it." He said something
unintelligible to some invisible person outside, and then
squirmed through the breach into the room, with consider-
able difficulty, since he was in full battle gear. "None of
the officers did, so I guess that puts you in command."
"In command of what?" 12-Upjohn said dryly.
"Not very much," the Marine admitted. "I've got five
men surviving, one of them with a broken hip, and a section
of the ship with two drive units in it. It would lift, more or
less, if we could jury-rig some controls, but I don't know
where we'd go in it without supplies or a navigatoror an
overdrive, for that matter." He looked about speculatively.
"There was a Standing Wave transceiver in this section, I
think, but ifd be a miracle if it still functioned."
"Would you know how to test it?" Robin asked.
"No. Anyhow we've got more immediate business than
that. We've picked up a native. What's more, he speaks
Englishmust have picked it up from the Assam Dragon. We
started to ask him questions, but it turns out he's some