"Michael Flynn - Falling Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flynn Michael)

had caught more companies than Pegasus in its slipstream.
Aurora Ballistic and Orbital hired pilots. Earth-to-Earth ballistic runs were for weenies тАФ bus drivers тАФ but
better than nothing; and Katya Volkovna, AuroraтАЩs chief of operations, was, like Ned DuBois and Forrest
Calhoun, one of the original SSTO test pilots. But Aurora would have the same problem borrowing money
as everyone else if they wanted to buy up Pegasus ships and routes and expand their service. As for
Daedalus and Energia, the otter fraternity was worldwide and Chase didnтАЩt think the Social Security crisis
affected Brazil and Russia, but that big sucking sound could vacuum upreals andnovy rubles as easily as
dollars. It was a global economy. ThatтАЩs what they all said.
The hell with it. Whatever happened, he couldnтАЩt change it by fretting. He pulled on a pair of ragged chinos
and a T-shirt and headed for the basement, where he set up his lathe to turn some table legs. He liked
using his hands and he liked working in wood and metal. He never used the voice commands built into the
latheтАЩs Artificial Stupid. Voice commands were for weenies, too. You had tofeel the wood and the pressure
and the bite of the tool.
The spindle wound up and Chase applied the tool. Feather light, at first, and wood peeled off in delicate
spirals. He glanced at the template and adjusted the depth.
Honey. He shook his head. What a name. He hoped she hadnтАЩt had to grow up wearing it. Maybe heтАЩd ask
her the next time he dropped in for the barbecue. He pulled the tool away and the lathe whined down to a
stop, a fair groove cut near what would become the base, once he squared it off.
Who was he kidding? Honey was a nice enough gal. Good-looking, sassy, autonomous. But there was
something missing. Chase didnтАЩt know what it was, only that Honey didnтАЩt have it. And maybe that was
good luck for the both of them тАФ not to mention for Karen and Little Chase. He could drop by the
Sidewinder and talk flirty and theyтАЩd both have a few laughs and no one would be hurt. He knew some
guys who went pelt-hunting, convinced they were missing out on something. They were always a little
disoriented, Chase thought. After all the furtive nooners and cheatinтАЩ evenings, they somehow never
managed to fill the emptiness inside them. Could be there was someone perfect out there; at least, perfect
for him. Someone who had whatever тАЬitтАЭ was; but he could spend the rest of his life looking and never
accomplish anything besides making miserable the lives of people that he loved.
He remembered what he had told Honey about his first flight. How he and Ned and Forrest had mounted
engines on a derelict Shuttle ET that had been put accidentally-on-purpose into orbit. Could they do the
same thing with that Bean? Mount rocket engines on it. Alot of rockets, maybe; but the basic techniques
were known; and sure, the people who were paid to think of things like that had probably already thought
of things like that, but heтАЩd drop Ned a line, anyway, just to make sure. Ned knew people, or knew those
who did, and people didnтАЩt always do what they were paid for.
HeтАЩd scope the mission first. It wasnтАЩt like he had a whole lot of work to do. Might as well lay a phat
proposal on NedтАЩs hard drive and not just a vague suggestion. He was a shipтАЩs captain. He knew to the
gram how much a Plank freshly refueled in orbit could carry. He could call up Forrest at the Space
Academy and pick his brain over his experiences on FarTrip I.
FarTrip II would be one phat stoopid mission. HeтАЩd told Hobie once that he was bored with commercial
flights, with their space traffic controllers, port captains, bills of lading, and passenger manifests. A new
FarTrip, out beyond the reach of ground control, depending on your own mojo, would be anything but run-
of-the-mill. Maybe if he worked up a good enough proposal, theyтАЩd pick him to fly it.
Of course, as of now he didnтАЩt even have a damned commercial flight. He was laid off and earthbound,
chained to a big honking rock.

2.

Virgin Berth
After the cab dropped her off at the curb, Jacinta Rosario lost herself for a few moments in the ritual of
payment and tip before turning to face the building. Overhead, gulls shrieked under the razor sun.
Something thundered out of LAX, a few miles north. An 803. She identified it easily by its engine