"David Feintuch - Seafort 02 - Challenger's Hope" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feintuch David)

arrival of their ships.
Earthport Station, the largest orbiting station ever built, moved all Earth's interstellar traffic and much of its
interplanetary shipping too. Its many levels held bonded warehouses for the duty-free zones, dozens of shuttle
bays, administrative offices, staff housing, waiting areas, rest rooms, restaurants and snack bars. News of the
aliens had done little to slow the frantic pace of traffic.
"I keep forgetting how big the place is." Alexi hurried to keep pace. A year younger than I, at nineteen Alexi
was no longer the handsome boy just out of Academy I'd met three years before. He had grown into an athletic,
confident young man.
"A lot of joeys moving out," I said. Perhaps fewer folk would embark on the sixteen-month cruise to Hope
Nation until the danger from the aliens had passed. I lengthened my stride. In the two days since Admiral
Tremaine had taken my ship, I'd grown almost desperate to be done with the interminable briefings and to board
my command, whatever she might be.
"This way, sir. I remember now." Alexi diverted me to a staircase at one side of the corridor. I followed,
grateful that he'd taken the trouble to meet my incoming shuttle, despite the inconvenience of resettling himself
at short notice.
Only a few sailors and civilian workers hurried along the lower corridor as we strode past successive airlock
gates. We were now at G-12; Portia was moored at G-4, almost halfway around the rim of the station. I
shouldered the heavy duffel Alexi had twice offered to carry.
We slowed a bit, but kept a steady pace. Alexi offered a few remarks about ships outlined in the transplex
portholes we passed, but subsided when I only grunted in reply.
The truth was that I was nervous; never had I boarded my own ship to take command. My captaincy of
Hibernia had begun in tragedy and confusion, light years into our cruise from Earth to Hope Nation. Now I was
to command U.N.S. Portia, a vessel that shipped sixty passengers and a crew of thirty. Among them two
lieutenants, three middies. Far smaller than Hibernia or Challenger, she was a significant ship in the United
Nations Naval Service despite Admiral Tremaine's disparaging remarks.
I knew that Lieutenant Vax Holser and my three midshipmen had already transferred aboard, along with the
Pilot and Chief Engineer I had never met. As to the crew belowdecks, I had no idea whom I might find. I
wondered again why Vax had turned down his own command to sail with me, considering how badly I'd treated
him during our years in Hibernia. I nonetheless felt more secure for his steady, dependable presence.
As we reached G-4, I stopped to run my hands through my hair. When I tugged on the jacket of my dress
whites, Alexi grinned. "It's not funny," I snapped. "I need to make a good impression."
"Right, sir." He was still smiling. Alexi was as close a friend as I had, but at times I wondered if our long
voyage would chafe. I bit back a cutting remark, knowing my own tension and not Alexi's irrepressible good
cheer had spawned it.
"I'm ready." I picked up my duffel. At the lock two armed marine sentries stood guard. I pulled out my papers.
One sentry remained standing with his hand on the butt of his pistol; the other saluted the bars on my dress
uniform, took my papers. "Commander Nicholas Seafort?"
"That's right." I waited patiently while he compared the holopic to my face. After the rebellion we'd blundered
into at Miningcamp, I appreciated their security measures; any orbiting station now left me ill at ease.
"There's your ship, Captain." He gestured.
Alexi followed me into the lock. As Portia maintained the same atmospheric pressure as the Station, the airlock
had no need to cycle; Portia's inner hatch would be opened as soon as we sealed the outer for safety.
Through the transplex airlock panel I caught a glimpse of sailors milling in the ship's corridor. "Gawd, there he
is!" someone hissed within. The hatch slid open.
"Attention!" Vax Holser's bellow rang through the corridor. Utter silence greeted me as I took a step forward.
Correctly, Alexi waited behind, in the lock. Vax's muscular frame stiffened to rigid attention as he snapped an
Academy salute.
"Permission to come on board." My tone was formal.
"Granted, sir." Vax's grin was heartfelt and wanning.
I strode through the inner hatch. Vax, Midshipman Derek Carr and two seamen remained at attention, eyes