"Gordon R. Dickson & Harry Harrision - Lifeship" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

alien. "Engineer Munghanf."

Giles nodded in acknowledgment.

"You are their leader?" demanded the Captain.
*T am an Adelman," said Giles, frigidly. Even allowing for the natural
ignorance of the alien, it was hard to endure an assumption that he might be
merely one of a group of arbites.

The Captain turned away. As if this action were a signal, a number of voices
called out from among the arbitesтАФall of which the Captain ignored. The
voices died away as the tall form returned to the control area and from a
compartment there took out a rectangular object wrapped in golden cloth, and
held it ceremoniously at arm's length for one still moment before putting it
down on a horizontal surface of the control panel. The Engineer moved to
stand alongside, as the Captain put one finger on the surface of the cloth.
Both then bent their heads in silence above it, motionless.

"What is it?" asked the voice of Groce, behind Giles. "What's that they've
got?"

"Be quiet," said Giles, sharply. "It's their sacred bookтАФthe Albenareth
astrogational starbook holding their navigation tables and information."

Groce fell silent. But the determined voice of Mara, ignoring his order, took
up the questioning.

"Honor, sir," she said in Giles' ear. "Will you tell us what's happening,
please?"

Giles shook his head, and put his finger to his-lips, refusing to answer
until the two aliens had raised their heads and begun to unwrap the golden
cloth from about their book. Revealed, it was like something out of the human
pastтАФas it was indeed out of the Albenareth pastтАФa thing of animal-skin
binding and pages of a paper made from vegetable pulp.

"All right," said Giles at last, turning around to find the arbite girl right
behind him. He spoke to her and to all the rest as well. "Spacegoing and
religion are one and the same thing to the Albenareth. Everything they do to
navigate this lifeship or any other space vessel is a holy and ritual act.
You should all have been briefed about that when you were sent to board the
spaceliner, back on Earth."

"They told us that much, sir," said Mara. "But they didn't explain how it
worked, or why."

Giles looked at her with a touch of irritation. It was not his duty to be
tutor to a handful of arbites- Then he relented. It would probably be better
if they were informed. They would all be living in close quarters under harsh
conditions for some days, or even weeks. They would adapt better to their