"John DeChancie - Skyway 2 - Red Limit Freeway" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dechancie John)

we were on into a series of hairpin turns, winding its way down a range of heavily forested mountains. I
worried about the roller all the way, taking the curves at a crawl, not wanting to juice up the traction to
high grab and aggravate the condition of the bad one. At full charge and maximum traction, I could have
roared down there at 80 km/hr, had I a wild hair up my fundamental aperture.
The forestation was luxuriant, but not tropical. The trees looked vaguely Earthlike from a distance, but
the foliage was radically different, and the colors varied from deep turquoise to brilliant aquamarine, with
lots of stray pinks and reds mixed in. The effect on the eyes was slightly disturbing, colors shimmering
and shifting as the retinal cells vacillated over what wavelengths to take first.
I didn't have much time to look. The curves were getting dicey, and I had my hands full. Everyone else
gaped out the ports, marveling at the strange palette of colors.
I did notice that the trees were enormous, with thick straight trunks shooting up as high as a hundred
meters.
"Great logging country," Sam said.
"I hope there are loggers," Susan said, "and I hope they have restaurants to eat in, with clean restrooms,
and I hope the food is good, and I hope there's a place to stay with nice, big beds, and-" She broke off
and sighed. "Don't mind me."
"We could all do with a break, Suzie," John commiserated. Lori yelled something from the back.
"What was that, Lorelei?" John called.
"I said I have to piss so bad my back teeth are swimmin' !"
"Hey, Carl--" I began, then realized something. "Hey! What the hell is your last name, anyway?"
"Chapin."
"Oh. Why don't you let Lori up and let her use the ... oh, hell. Suzie?"
Suzie started to unstrap. "Sure."
I slowed down almost to a stop while Susan went back to make sure Lori didn't re-bang her head on the
way to the john. Chapin came up front, as there was no privacy back there.
He had joined our group rather recently; last night, in fact. Since that time he'd kept pretty, much to
himself, when not keeping an eye on Lori. I didn't know if anyone really knew who he was, or why he
was with us. For that matter, I was not completely straight on the facts myself.
The trip across Splash had taken most of the day, and the trek across Snowball and Nothing-to-See had
eaten up the rest of it. Everyone had been trying to get some sleep, and there had been little conversation.
What there had been, Carl had not participated in beyond pleasantries, except when cussing out Lori.
"About time you were formally introduced to everyone, Carl. Don't you think? Have you met everyone?"
"I remember you from somewhere," he said to me wryly. I smiled. "And I seem to have a distinct
recollection of stealing your buggy."
"Oh, my God, that car," John remembered, slapping his forehead and rolling his eyes. "Where in the
name of all that's unholy did you get that thing?"
"That's John Sukuma-Tayler," . I said. "John, meet Carl Chapin."
"Hello. A little belated, but nice to meet you."
"Don't get up. Nice to meet you, too, John. And ... it's a little late, but thanks for the help last night."
"You're very welcome. But Roland, here, was responsible for engineering it."
Roland unstrapped, got up, and took Chapin's hand. "Roland Yee. It's a pleasure. Where the hell did you
get that car?" Chapin laughed. "I get asked that a lot. I bought it from a custom vehicle manufacturer."
"Alien, I suppose."
"Yeah."
"Who?" Roland asked pointedly.
"Well..."
"The technology was fantastic. You couldn't have gotten it from any known race on the Skyway."
Roland's tone was a trifle accusing.
"Roland," John interjected, "I think you're being a bit-"
"I'm sorry," Roland was quick to go on. "It's just that our whole experience with your vehicle was ... well,