"Brin, David - Uplift 06 - Heaven's Reach" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brin David)

In other words, you had to be at least partway crazy
to be suited for his job.

Shaking lethargy, he clambered up a ladder to the
observing platform just above his quartersЧa hexagonal
chamber, ten meters across, with a control panel in the
center. Groping toward the alarm cutoff, Harry some-
how managed not to trigger any armaments, or purge
the station's atmosphere into E Space, before slapping
the right switch. The maddening noise abruptly ceased.

"Ah . . . ," he sighed, and almost fell asleep again
right there, standing behind the padded command chair.

But then ... if sleep did come, he might start
dreaming again.

I never understood Hamlet till they assigned me here.
Now I figure, Shakespeare must've glimpsed E Space be-
fore writing that "to be or not to be" stuff.

. . . perchance to dream . . .

Yup, ol' Willie must've known there's worse things
than death.

Scratching his belly, Harry scanned the status board.
No red lights burned. The station appeared functional.
No major reality leaks were evident. With a sigh, he
moved around to perch on the seat.

"Monitor mode. Report station status."

The holo display lit up, projecting a floating blue M,
sans serif. A melodious voice emanated from the slowly
revolving letter.

"Monitor mode. Station integrity is nominal. An
alarm has been acknowledged by station superinten-
dent Harry Harms at 4:48:52 internal subjective esti-
mate time. .. . ."

"I'm Harry Harms. Why don't you tell me something I
don't know, like what the alarm's for, you shaggy ex-
cuse for a baldie's toup ... ah ... ah ..."

A sneeze tore through Harry's curse. He wiped his
eyes with the back of a hirsute wrist.