"Gordon R. Dickson - Hilifter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

This is one of Gordy's most-requested stories, featuring one
of his most engaging and enduring characters, Cully When (see
None But Man and others). You could file it under Pure Fun тАУ
but it does serve to remind us that the distinction between a
pirate and a privateer is more than letters of marque. It is
essentially motivation, not the verdict of history, that decides
who is a Hero and who a . . .


HILIFTER

It was locked тАУ from the outside.
Not only that, but the mechanical latch handle that would override the
button lock on the tiny tourist cabin aboard the Star of the North was hidden
by the very bed on which Cully When sat cross-legged, like some sinewy
mountain man out of Cully's own pioneering ancestry. Cully grinned at the
image in the mirror which went with the washstand now hidden by the bed
beneath him. He would not have risked such an expression as that grin if
there had been anyone around to see him. The grin, he knew, gave too
much of him away to viewers. It was the hard, unconquerable humor of a
man dealing for high stakes.
Here, in the privacy of this locked cabin, it was also a tribute to the skill of
the steward who had imprisoned him. A dour and cautious individual with a
long Scottish face, and no doubt the greater part of his back wages
reinvested in the very spaceship line he worked for. Or had Cully done
something to give himself away? No. Cully shook his head. If that had been
the case, the steward would have done more than just lock the cabin. It
occurred to Cully that his face, at last, might be becoming known.
"I'm sorry, sir," the steward had said, as he opened the cabin's sliding
door and saw the unmade bed. "Off-watch steward's missed making it up."
He clucked reprovingly. "I'll fix it for you, sir."
"No hurry," said Cully. "I just want to hang my clothes; and I can do that
later."
"Oh, no, sir," The lean, dour face of the other тАУ as primitive in a different
way as Cully's own тАУ looked shocked. "Regulations. Passengers' gear to
be stowed and bunk made up before overdrive."
"Well, I can't just stand here in the corridor," said Cully. "I want to get rid
of the stuff and get a drink." And indeed the corridor was so narrow, they
were like two vehicles on a mountain road. One would have to back up to
some wider spot to let the other past.
"Have the sheets in a moment, sir," said the steward. "Just a moment, sir.
If you wouldn't mind sitting up on the bed, sir?"
"All right," said Cully. "But hurry. I want to step up for a drink in the
lounge."
He hopped up on to the bed, which filled the little cabin in its down
position; and drew his legs up tailor-fashion to clear them out of the
corridor.
"Excuse me, sir," said the steward, closed the door, and went off. As
soon as he heard the button lock latch, Cully had realized what the man was
up to. But an unsuspecting man would have waited at least several minutes