"Sharon Green - Diana Santee 2 - Gateway To Xanadu" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Sharon)

understand. As a final request I'm going to ask you to try to stay out of trouble and to take care of
yourself, but I have a feeling that's one request you won't grant. "

"I always take care of myself," I answered, still bothered by the way I had hurt him. "There's rarely
anyone else around to do the job for me. As for staying out of trouble, most of the people I know
consider the accomplishment in the same category as avoiding death and taxes. Dameron. . . ."

"Don't worry, girl, I'll get it worked out after I see you safely on your way back home," he assured me
with a faint smile. "I'll just remind myself that whatever trouble you find with Valdon you asked for,
freely and without any pressure from me. You'd better get aboard now, so I can start evacuating the air
from this dock. "

"Wait a minute!" I protested as he took my arm to head me toward the airlock. "What are you talking
about? What trouble with Val? I don't plan on having any trouble with Val. "

"Then maybe you won't have any," Dameron said with a shrug, his hand moving me right in front of the
airlock before leaving my arm. "If you're a good girl and behave yourself with him, Valdon certainly
won't start any trouble. Have a good trip home, girl, and be sure to stop by if you're ever in this
neighborhood again."

He patted my shoulder a couple of times before he turned and headed for the dock exit, ignoring the
"Hey!" I sent after him as though I hadn't uttered a sound. I hefted the monolon bag I still carried,
momentarily tempted to drop it and go after him, then said to hell with it and turned back to the airlock. I
didn't know what game he was playing, but calling him on it wouldn't have accomplished anything. It
was a safe bet even he didn't know what he was talking about, and I had better things to do with my time
than waste it trying to find sense where there wasn't any.

Once I had stalked past the double open doors of the lock and hit the switch that closed them, I made my
way deeper into the small ship. The two cabins, salon area, shower and exercise area, and galley were all
ranged together after the airlock and before the control room, so I stopped briefly to toss my monolon
bag into my cabin before continuing on to the pilot's console. I also stopped in the galley to fill a mug
with coffee, but obviously made too little noise performing those chores. Val was moving around in the
second cabin, probably stowing whatever he'd brought with him, and didn't even stick his nose out to see

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who had come in. I shrugged a little over such blind trust, still too annoyed with Dameron to be
interested in making small talk with Val, and carried my coffee into the control room.

The departure check I started the computer on was longer and more detailed than your average departure
check, but I wanted to be sure that everything really was on the green before I kicked off into the deep
black. Dameron and Val seemed to be talented in the repairs department, but they still had been working
on an alien ship with no more than alien wiring diagrams and inspired guesswork to guide them. An all-
systems check is boring only when your life doesn't hinge on that check, and even so it doesn't take
forever. I was just finishing up when the wide metal doors of the dock slid invitingly open, showing that
Dameron had evacuated the air from the dock, giving me access to the departure tunnels. My course
computer clicked contentedly as it waited with infinite patience to be meshed into the drive unit; every
light on my board blinked green, and sets of parallel blue lines lit up along the dock wall and extended
out into the departure tunnels. I raised the ship on secondary breaking jets, nudged us toward the open