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

nose so great smell tomorrowтАЩs breakfast. Yet, the swan had been thought at first a homely sort of
duckling. There were more beauties than those that the eye perceived. Other senses gathered their own
pleasures. He had heard all the stories of the spaceborn and their mastery of free-fall sex. He believed
only half the tales, but they were the more interesting half.

тАЬThen тАШperhaps,тАЩтАЭ he said with more asperity than he intended, for he did not like to burn bridges he
might someday want to cross, тАЬyou ought not leave the door open, if youтАЩd rather no visitors come
within.тАЭ

She followed his gesture, saw that she was exposed, and seized the zipper. Yet her fingers hesitated
without drawing it shut. She looked him in the eye and Fife knew that fortune did indeed favor the
brave. тАЬDo you find me attractive?тАЭ she asked. There was a blunt challenge in her voice, as if she
demanded lies, yet refused to accept them.

Fife was devoted to the truth and to allowing cards to fall, yet he was not unmindful of prudence. тАЬI
believe you have a beautiful heart,тАЭ he answered which, while unresponsive, was the truth. The woman
had been weeping openly, a sign of sentimentality not often found in the corridors under Luna. тАЬAnd
your movement is as graceful as any ballet.тАЭ He might normally have concluded by saying that in the
dark all cats were gray, as he had a taste for aphorisms and clich├йs. Instead, he gestured at his own

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lustrously pearl body. тАЬAnd a toad like myself can hardly deprecate another.тАЭ

Wong smiled at the transparency of his offer. It was not the sort of intimacy her loneliness sought. It was
only use. Yet if one could not be loved, to be useful was no small thing. тАЬHave you ever kissed a toad?тАЭ
she asked, knowing what residues lingered in her sweat, in the beads of perspiration that lined her lips
and brow. тАЬThey say licking a toad can bring visions of joy.тАЭ

Only a small, attenuated joy, nothing compared to the potent mist she had inhaled; but the unexpected
jolt her sweat would give him would be a fit reprimand for his cold-eyed opportunism. Not the transport
of joy he would feel at his first taste of her, but the sharp, black despondency that would chase him once
they had parted.

The Log
Sat. 12thinst. 40 days out of Achilles. Course laid on grand secant. Coordinates on J-2100 not fixed, due
to transmitter malfunction noted hereunder. Manual bearings taken on Jupiter and Sun. Sun in Aqr.; Jupt.
in Gem. Est. position 4.47 AU starward by 41┬░30' east of Jupiter meridian on the solar ecliptic. Velocity
steady at 152 k/s. Engines idled for repairs. Weather holding; wind from the East-Sun-East; no solar
flares noted. Departed this life E.D. Hand, late captain of this vessel. Sysop reports transmitter
malfunction, reception intermittent. People employed at various tasks.




There were only three of them, now that Hand was dead; but Gorgas had taken the captainтАЩs chair as
soon as the deck officers had entered the wardroom. This struck the other two as unseemly; Corrigan,
because he was accustomed to the old order and change always came on him too suddenly, and
Satterwaithe, because she had other notions of who ought to sit there.