"David Drake - Fallen Angels" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

His parents had once taken him atop theSearsTower and another time to the edge of the Mesa Verde
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cliffs; and each time he had thought what an awful long way down it was. Then, they had taken him so far
up that down ceased to mean anything at all.



Alex stared out of Piranha's windscreen at the cloud deck, trying to conjure that feeling of height; trying
to feel that the clouds were down and he was up. But it had all been too many years ago, in another
world. All he could see was distance. Living in the habitats did that to you. It stole height from your
senses and left you only with distance.



He glanced covertly at Gordon Tanner in the copilot's seat. If you were born in the habitats, you never
knew height at all. There were no memories to steal. Was Gordon luckier than he, or not?



The ship sang. He was beginning to hear it now.



And Alex MacLeod was back behind a stick, where God had meant him to be, flying a spaceship again.
Melancholy was plain ingratitude! He had plotted and schemed his way into this assignment. He had
pestered Mary and pestered Mary until she had relented and bumped his name to the top of the list just
to be rid of him. He had won.



Of course, there was a cost. Victories are always bittersweet. Sweet because . . . He touched the stick
and felt nothing. They were still in vacuum . . . thicker vacuum, that was heating up. If there wasn't
enough air to give bite to the control surfaces, a pilot must call it vacuum.



How could you explain the sweetness to someone who had never conned a ship? You couldn't. He
relaxed in the acceleration chair, feeling the tingling in his hands and feet. The itching anticipation. Oh, to
be useful again, even if for a moment.



But bitter because . . . That part he did not want to think about. Just enjoy the moment; become one
with it. If this was to be his last trip, he would enjoy it while he could. If everything went A-OK, he'd be
back upstairs in a few hours, playing the hero for the minute or so that people would care. A real hero,