"James Alan Gardner - League of Peoples 01 - Expendable" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner James Alan)

busy posing: hands on her hips, and feet spread wider than I, for one, would find natural.

The figure on the floor rolled onto his back and went into a convulsion. His legs shook with quick little
kicks and his hands clapped together again and again. "Oh shit, he's hurt," Prope said, breaking her
stance and pressing her nose against the window. "Harque, buzz the infirmary and tell them to get their
asses here on the double. Fast and quietтАФthe rest of the crew isn't supposed to know about this." She
closed her eyes and whispered, "Don't die on my ship!"

As air rushed into the transport bay, the sound of metal clapping on metal became audible over the
speakers monitoring the area. Ringing above the clapping was a tinny cry. At first it sounded like
screeching, but then it solidified into something like "Wheeeeeee!"

I looked at Yarrun. He looked back, eyebrows slightly raised.

Down in the transport bay, the admiral scrambled to his feet and tossed off the helmet of his impact suit.
He turned to the four of us standing at the window and shouted, "See? Like Jonah and the whale." He
pointed to himself. "I'm Jonah." He pointed to the Mouth. "That's the whale. Asperm whale. Jonah
comes out of the whale. See?" He hugged himself with a clang of metal gloves against the suit's
chestplate.

Prope stared blankly at the wild old man. Harque, at her side, whispered, "Should I cancel the call for
the medical team?"

"Not on your life," she answered.




My Second Admiral


Harque turned a dial and the observation deck began to descend, lowering itself to match levels with the
transport bay. As we sank, doors within doors were revealed in the plastic separating us from the bay: a
large door that could be opened to receive huge, heavy equipment; a medium door, just the lower half of
the largest one, but still big enough to let robot cargo-haulers pass through; and a baby door, set into the
medium one, just right for humans.

Prope was obviously reluctant to open any of those doors until the medical team arrived. With her heroic
stance abandoned, she shifted her weight back and forth from one foot to the other, probably wondering
how to preserve her dignity while dealing with a madman. On the other side of the door, Admiral Chee
had begun clinking the metal of his pressure suit with his finger, idly checking which surfaces made which
tones. He may have been trying to tink out a song, but I didn't recognize the tune.

Yarrun cleared his throat. "Captain... hadn't we better let him in?"
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"How do we know it's safe?" she asked. "He might have a disease."