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

Miko had come to help him celebrate a successful EVAsion. The Lotus Jewel had come to ask about her
antennae, but she had also come to kick near-beer with him, and had already filled two squeezers with
the hoppy brew. Bhatterji accepted one but surreptitiously replaced it with another that he had brought
from his own quarters. Sometimes a man wanted to get a little nearer, and to hell with the Prague
Convention.

Three of the wranglers were there as well, though for their own reasons. They were also celebrating a
successful evasion, this one of RatlineтАЩs attention. Evermore and AkhaturianтАФslim and beardless and
humming with vitalityтАФwere candy to BhatterjiтАЩs eye. Oh, hour of thoughtless youth! But Evermore
greeted him with wary hostility and Twenty-four deCant, the Third Wrangler, had her nails deeply
embedded in AkhaturianтАЩs arm, so neither lad was properly on BhatterjiтАЩs to-do list. DeCant was one of
those predatory females that Bhatterji dreaded, a falcon eager to swoop and alwaysтАФso it seemed to him
тАФon those whom he fancied.

But the talk ran high and the laughter flowed, though most of both were BhatterjiтАЩs doing. He squeezed
neer out of his ziggy bottle and gulped the writhing, iridescent globules like a fish snatching at bits of
floating food. Miko, anchored a little to the side, disapproved. Loose food, especially loose liquids,
could gum the inboard filter systems and require hours of digestion by GrubbтАЩs microbots to unclog
them.

Bhatterji, attributing her slight frown to thoughtfulness and the pursed lips to a thrown kiss, threw his
mate a replyтАФat which sight deCant, watching, unaccountably giggled.

They chatted for a while over trivia but the talk, no matter how it might orbit, spiraled inexorably into
the matter of BhatterjiтАЩs EVAsion.

тАЬI would have taken the surface route around the hull,тАЭ Evermore said with the placid assurance of the
bystander. тАЬIt would have taken longer, but thereтАЩs less risk.тАЭ Rave Evermore was the sort who was
always more expert at other peopleтАЩs jobs.

Bhatterji made allowances both for the boyтАЩs youth and for his beauty, though the latter was fading with
the deepening voice. тАЬLife is risk,тАЭ he told the boy. тАЬAnything can kill you. Anything. Do you know
how many people have died taking a dump? If you did, it wouldтАФтАЭ

тАЬтАФscare the shit right out of me,тАЭ Evermore finished the sentence and Bhatterji, realizing that he must

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have used the line rather too often, joined in the laughter.

тАЬEveryone dies,тАЭ he said with a smile as sharp as a blade. тАЬNot everyonelives .тАЭ Evermore flinched and
looked away.

тАЬWhat are the odds on being hit like that?тАЭ Akhaturian asked. тАЬBy a meteor! They must be a million-to-
one!тАЭ

Bhatterji shrugged. тАЬAnd how many millions of minutes of flight time has this ship logged? Given
enough opportunity, even the rarest event must happen. We live in an unlikely world, boy. Everything
that happens is impossible! What odds, Ivar, that your parents would ever have met? Or that, on one