"Michael Flynn - Wreck of The Rivers of Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flynn Michael)

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 TheWreckofTheRiverofStars

тАЬThen get it.тАЭ Corrigan found the engineerтАЩs constant dithering a frustration. Moving him to action was
like pushing cable.

тАЬI could go Outside,тАЭ Miko said to Bhatterji, тАЬand check the hardware while you run the diagnostics
insideтАжтАЭ

Bhatterji did not respond immediately, for the Void frightened him beyond measure. There was ionizing
radiation from solar flares and, if not that, the endless cold or the endless vacuum or, quite simply, the
endlessness itself. Lose contact with the ship, lose orientation, and a man would fall forever and everтАФ
like Enver Koch tumbling into the dark. Sometimes, just before sleep took him, Bhatterji could hear his
predecessorтАЩs voice ever fainter over the comm.

But if the thought of going Outside frightened, it also enticed. Bhatterji began to tremble.

тАЬIтАЩll check the cages myself,тАЭ he heard his own far-away voice say at last.

Corrigan fishtailed to go, having gotten what he came for; but he paused for a moment in the accessway
that led to the main deck and turned back. тАЬI almost forgot. Captain Hand died a half hour ago; so you
can scratch your turns off the death watch.тАЭ

Bhatterji grunted as if punched in the belly. The news unsettled him, coming so soon after the engine
malf. An ill omen, as if parts of the ship, human and mechanical, were shutting down one after the other.
He dismissed the foreboding and turned to face the control panel. тАЬPull yourself together,тАЭ he told Miko.
тАЬThereтАЩs work to do.тАЭ

Miko bit on a thumb knuckle and hugged both arms tight, looking dazed. тАЬI canтАЩt help it. He was good to
me. He took me in when I had nowhere to go.тАЭ

Brief pain, and briefer humor, crossed RamтАЩs heart. тАЬThatтАЩs a common enough story on this ship. I
remember whenтАФтАЭ But that was a private memory, not for sharing. The captain had made a habit of
picking up the discards and left behinds of other ships, Ramakrishnan Bhatterji not least among them.

The engineer could not help but think that, in dying, Captain Hand had made a grave mistake.




With the ship enziggied, тАЬMothтАЭ Ratline gathered up his wranglers and herded them into the cargo hold
above the main deck for a bit of opportunistic straightening. The wrangler berth was used to his
continual fussing. тАЬA place for everything,тАЭ he liked to say, тАЬand everything in its place.тАЭ Except, the
wranglers noted, nothing ever seemed quite in its proper place. Rave Evermore had tracked the progress
of one particular container from bin to bin within the hold and declared that it had accumulated several
thousand kilometers of additional travel beyond its nominal interplanetary journey.

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