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

тАЬThe onset, yes; but he lingered for a few days.тАЭ Could she find in that very brevity a reason for her
failure? A slower onset, a few more days. Yes, she might have diagnosed him, found a treatment
amongst her unguents and seed codes; but he had slipped like water between her fingers. She brushed
again at her eyes.

Fife observed the woman closely. She exuded a faint smell, at once fleshy and metallic, and damp
circles had darkened her coverall under the arms and around her collar and at the small of her back. Her
chest, visible through the lowered zipper, glistened with small beads of perspiration. Was there a sweat
lodge on board, he wondered? A strange luxury for a tramp, the more so in that the crew were not of
Luna.

тАЬIf you need to mourn, I can listen.тАЭ He let the suggestion linger between them. A woman distraught
meant opportunities opened, if properly cultivatedтАФsorrow and loss being often parent to desire. Yet his
compassion was as genuine as it was calculated. If one seeks to buy, only a fool offers brass.

тАЬIтАЩdтАжrather not,тАЭ she said. But did he hear hesitation in her voice?

He created a smile for her. тАЬSorrow, bottled, turns as rancid as vinegar; yet decanted, it cleanses.тАЭ

тАЬAre you a counselor of some sort?тАЭ

He laughed at the incongruity. тАЬIn a strange sort of way, I suppose I am. I troubleshoot for MohammedтАЩs

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Mountains. When one of our crews cannot place its asteroid into a proper capture orbit, IтАЩm the one they
boost out to solve the problem.тАЭ

тАЬAnd Mo-Mo canтАЩt afford a passenger ticket?тАЭ

тАЬYour captain Hand was to call on Dinwoody Poke in the Virgin Islands and from there I can goose the
crew chief before his launch window closes up on him. OnlyтАжтАЭ And a brief frown crossed his pale
features. тАЬIf we continue coasting, my shortcut may become a very long cut.тАЭ He shrugged. Bad luck
was a fact of life and one dealt with it or not.

Good luck, on the other hand, was something one created. He extended a hand. тАЬI wouldnтАЩt mind
learning something of your captain. You seem to have known him. Let us find somewhere private where
we can talk.тАЭ

He could see the change in her eyes and knew that she understood his goals and objectives. The problem
was: did she concur? Was consensus achievable, or had he misread the unzipped coverall?

тАЬPerhaps some other time,тАЭ she said.

Fife tried and failed to parse the overtones in her voice. Well, it had been happenstance, not beauty that
had drawn himтАФthat and the momentary grace of her movement. In a more reflective mode and with
more options to choose from, he might not have given this woman a secondтАЩs glance. Her looks
bordered on plain and from the wrong side of the border. Why, jaws like that could strip cable; and a