"Cook, Glen - Starfishers 00 - Passage At Arms" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cook Glen)

IТm amazed by how young they all look. Especially the women. They shouldnТt know what men are for, yet . . . Christ! Are they that young or am I getting that old?
I ask one of my questions. УWhy doesnТt the other firm bring in a Main Battle Fleet? It shouldnТt be that hard to scrub Canaan and a couple of moons.Ф
Yanevich ignores me. The Commander is studying faces and showing his own. Bradley is scooting around like a kid during his first day on a new playground. Westhause has the volunteer mouth again.
УTheyТre stretched too thin trying to blitz the Inner Worlds. The guys bothering us are trainees. They hang out here a couple of months, getting blooded, before they take on the big time. When we get out there itТll be a different story. The reps on those routes are pros. ThereТs one Squadron Leader they call the Executioner. HeТs the worst news since the Black Death.Ф
IТm getting tired of WesthauseТs voice. It takes on a pedantic note when he knows youТre listening.
УSuppose they committed that MBF? It would have to come from inside. That would stall their offensive. If we carved it up, theyТd lose the initiative. And we might cut them good. Climbers get mean when theyТre cornered.Ф A hint of pride has crept in here.
УMeaning they canТt afford to take time out to knock us off, but they canТt afford to leave us alone, either?Ф
The Commander scowls my way. IТm not using approved phraseology.
УYeah. Containment. ThatТs the name of their game.Ф
УThe holonets say weТre hurting them.Ф
УDamned right we are. WeТre the only reason the Inner Worlds are holding out. TheyТre going to do something . . . Ф Westhause reddens under the CommanderТs stony gaze. He has become too direct, too frank, and too enthusiastic. The Commander doesnТt approve of enthusiasm in the broader sense, only in enthusiasm for oneТs job. And there it should be a subtle, low-key competence, not a rodeo holler.
УThe statistics. TheyТre learning. Making it harder and harder. The easy days are over. The glory days. But weТre still building Climbers faster than theyТre retiring them. New squadron gets commissioned next month.Ф
He leaves me to go exchange greetings with a small, very dark Lieutenant. There are few non-Causcasians in our crew. That would be because so many are native Canaanites. УIto Piniaz,Ф Westhause says after the man departs. УWeapons Officer and Second Watch Officer. Good man. DoesnТt get along well, but very competent.Ф Just what the Old Man had to say. УWhere was I?Ф
I hear Yanevich murmur, УFlushing the tunnel with hot air.Ф Westhause doesnТt catch his remark.
УOh. Yeah. Time. ThatТs what itТs all about. WeТre all racing the hourglass of attrition.Ф
УJesus,Ф the Commander mutters. УYou write speeches for Fearless Fred?Ф I glance at him. HeТs pretending an intense interest in the women down the way. УEnough is enough.Ф
УOur firm is starting to pull ahead,Ф Westhause declares. The Commander looks dubious. WeТve all heard it before. High Command started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel the second week of the war. The glimmer hasnТt shone my way yet.
УYou guys coming? Or should we pick you up on our way home?Ф Only Yanevich, who is speaking, and the Commander remain. The rest of our lot have disappeared.
УYes sir.Ф Westhause glides into a naked shaft. It seems to plunge toward the planetoidТs heart. He floats upon nothing and grabs a descending cable. He controls his duffel with his other hand. He vanishes with the down-pop of a fast prairie dog. Yanevich follows him.
УYour turn.Ф
I take one look and say, УNot even without gravity.Ф
The Commander grins. ItТs the nastiest damned grin IТve ever seen. He sticks me with a straight-arm. УGrab the cable.Ф
I stop flailing and grab. The cable jerks me down the narrow, polished tube. There isnТt enough light to see much but an oily sheen as the walls speed by. The cable itself has optical fiber wound in. That sheds what little light there is.
This is a claustrophobic setting. The shaft is only slightly more than a meter in diameter.
I can just make out Yanevich below me. If I look up I can see the CommanderТs grin coming after me. He has rolled so heТs coming along facedown. HeТs laughing at some hilarious joke, and IТm afraid the joke is me. He shouts, УYou puke in here and IТll make you walk home from three lights out. Get ready to change cables. Damn it! DonТt look at me. Watch where youТre going.Ф
I look down as Yanevich begins heaving himself along. He pumps the cable, falls free, pumps the cable again, gaining speed. He seizes the faster cable and pulls away into the darkness.
I survive the exchange through the intercession of a tapered idiot fitting. It strips my death grip from the slow cable and transfers it to the faster one. The faster cable gives me a big yank and nearly turns me facedown. Now I know why Yanevich speeded himself up.
УDamned dangerous,Ф I shout up the shaft. The Commander grins.
From below, the First Watch Officer shouts, УGrab your balls. WeТll be hauling ass in a couple minutes.Ф
I picture myself hurtling down this tube like a too-small ball in an ancient muzzle-loader, rickety-rackety from wall to wall. I feel an intense urge to scream, but IТm not going to satisfy their sadism. I have a suspicion thatТs what theyТre waiting for. It would make their day.
I suddenly realize that getting tangled in the cable is the real danger here. Envisioning that peril helps silence the howling apeТs instinctive fear of falling.
УShift coming up.Ф
I try to imitate Yanevich this time. My effort earns its inevitable reward: I manage to get myself turned sideways. I canТt find the cable again.
УWhoa!Ф the Commander shouts. УDonТt flail around.Ф He shoves down on the top of my head, mashing my cap. Yanevich slides up out of the darkness and snags my right ankle. They turn me. УGet a hold. Carefully.Ф
The real trick is to avoid getting excited. I feel cocky when we hit bottom. IТve figured it out. I can keep up with the best of them. УThere must be a better way.Ф
The CommanderТs grin is bigger than ever. УThere is. But itТs no fun. All you do is climb onto a bus and ride down. And thatТs so boring.Ф He indicated cars unloading passengers along a wall a hundred meters away. People and bags are floating around like drunken pigeons. Some are our men, some the women who shared our lifter.
УYou prime son of a bitch.Ф
УNow, now. You said you wanted to see it all.Ф HeТs still grinning. I want to crack him one and push that grin around sideways. Bet they pull this one on all the new meat. He explains that the cable system is a carryover from TerVeenТs industrial days. Back then the cables carried high-speed freight capsules.
I canТt pop a superior in the snot locker, so I try stomping angrily instead. The result is predictable. There is no gravity. Of course. I flail around for a handhold, which only makes matters worse. In seconds I put on an admirable combination of pitch, roll, and yaw.
УThought you said he was a veteran,Ф Yanevich observes laconically. Embarrassed, I get hold of myself.
УSee, you havenТt forgotten everything,Ф the Commander says.
УIТll get it back. Am I in for the whole new-fish routine?Ф
УNot after weТre aboard. ThereТs no horseplay aboard a Climber.Ф HeТs dreadfully serious. Almost comically so.
ThereТll be no chance to get even. Grimacing, I let him tug me down so we can begin the next phase of our odyssey.
Westhause continues to explain. УWhat they did was drill the tunnels parallel to TerVeenТs long axis. They were cutting the third one when the war started. They were supposed to mine outward from the middle when that was finished. The living quarters were tapped in back then, too. For the miners. It was all big news when I was a kid. Eventually they wouldТve mined the thing hollow and put some spin on for gravity. They didnТt make it. This tunnel became a wetdock. A Climber returns from patrol, they bring her inside for inspections and repairs. They build the new ones in the other tunnel. Some regular ships too. It has a bigger diameter.Ф
In Navy parlance a wetdock is any place where a ship can be taken out of vacuum and surrounded by atmosphere so repair people donТt have to work in suits. A wetdock allows faster, more efficient, and more reliable repairwork.
УUhm.Ф IТm more interested in looking than listening.
УTakes a month to run a Climber through the inspections and preventive maintenance. These guys do a right job.Ф
Which is why the crews get so much leave between missions. They arenТt permitted to make their own repairs, even when so inclined.
Westhause divines my thoughts. УWe can stretch a leave if we work it right. Command always deploys the whole squadron at once. But we can come in as soon as weТve used our missiles, if we have the fuel. So we get our month plus however long it takes the last ship to get home.Ф