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

master, since Ratline was six years older than Satan and given to long, solitary retreats into his cabin.No,
he never does look happy, she thought, and wondered if there might be some long-buried wound
festering beneath his skin, waiting to burst like a pustule and poison them all.




What distressed acting captain Stepan Gorgas most about HandтАЩs funeral was how few of the crew
attended. Beside himself, there was only the engineer and his mate and the third officer, the four of them
arrayed in various approximations of mourning around Central Hall. Bhatterji appeared properly grave,
but his mate seemed to be in a trance, like a cow just after the knacking hammer. Eugenie Satterwaithe,
the Third Officer, appeared just before the ceremonies were to begin and positioned herself near one of
the entries, as if situated for a quick escape. Barely a corporalтАЩs guard! Not that Gorgas had thought so
well of Hand, but the office deserved respect.

Central Hall was a circular room set (happily enough) in the center of the lowermost deck. In more
exalted days it had been a reception area and the Grand Staircase had spiraled up from the luxury
modules below. Now the old stairwell was sealed off and only a narrow gangway led below to the
maintenance tunnels and the external midship airlock through which Hand, vaporized, would shortly
make his sublimed exit.

Satterwaithe had known Hand from the day the captain had been piped aboard, so Gorgas thought it
fitting that she now be present when he was piped off. The symmetry pleased him in some indefinable
fashion. Yet, Ratline, the other longtimer, did not appear. Nor even the doctor, which Gorgas found
more than astonishing. It seemed a slap in the face, as if Wong had no further use for the man. Of all the
sins in GorgasтАЩs book (and there were many) the worst was ingratitude.

When the announced time for the funeral arrived, Gorgas opened his link. тАЬShip,тАЭ he said solemnly,
drawing the attention of the other mourners. тАЬFuneral service. Evan Dodge Hand. Begin.тАЭ

тАЬDearly beloved,тАЭ said the ShipтАЩs AI in appropriately doleful tones, тАЬwe are gathered today to pay a final
farewell to our beloved captain, Evan Dodge Hand, Sixteenth Captain of the Magnetic Sail,The River of
Stars .тАЭ

Startled, Gorgas pulled his тАЩputer from the pocket of his formal tunic and jotted some quick, urgent
notes. In one short sentence the AI had made three errors.

First, despite its official designation and the supercargo coiled uselessly in the top-deck locker,The River
of Stars was no longer a magnetic sail.

Second, to judge by the quantity of tears being shed, Hand had hardly been тАЬbeloved,тАЭ unless by Miko
Hidei, who at least seemed on the verge of them.


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And third, тАЬweтАЭ were not gathered, since most of the crew had absented themselves.

He was not even entirely certain of the тАЬsixteenth.тАЭ It depended on how one counted the post captains