"Planet Of Twilight (Barbara Hambley)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hambly Barbara)

silver minihulls, and farther still the silver arrowhead of the Adamantine
could be seen moving out).
"Where are they going>." cried Threepio, stopping dead in his tracks to
watch. He thought he saw something move in the shadows, something tiny
scuttling along the wall, and turned his head in an attempt at visual
tracking. "There isn't anyone alive on that ship, I heard them say so...
Marcopius grabbed his arm and dragged him up the small scout craft's
ramp. "They're taking it out of the vicinity of the Chorios systems," said the
boy, slamming shut the scout boat's hatch behind them and dropping into the
chair behind the bridge controls. "If Ashgad kidnapped Lady Solo-if he found
some way to poison the crews on both ships, or whatever he did-he's not going
to want record of either ship disappearing too soon after the rendezvous." He
was jerking over levers, checking readouts, activating the emergency relays to
open the magnetic portal once again, while beyond the portal the stars glided
quicker and quicker as the tiny dots of the Charlos systems fell behind.
"He's going to want to say, Oh, they were all fine when they pulled out
of here. Look at this." He cut into the coded deep-space Net channel.
Its screen flashed an image of the two Republic cruisers making their
serene way toward the standard Coruscant jump point on the far side of the
Chorios systems. Immediately afterward the image of Leia's face appeared,
reporting the conference successfully concluded.
Brassy lights flared over Marcopius's dark frown, and the cool, neutral
voice of an emergency recording began to announce monotonously, "This vessel
is in stage two of hyperspace sequence. Taking a scout craft out at this time
is extremely dangerous. Contact the main bridge and review' your instructions.
This vessel is in stage two of hyperspace sequence...
"Hyperspace!" wailed Threepio. "Who could be taking it into.."
"One of the synthdroids. No one else is alive." Marcopius delicately
lifted the scout boat from its moorings and swung its nose weightlessly toward
the black rectangle of the portal. "Can't you shut that thing off?"
'I'm terribly sorry, Yeoman Marcopius, but my program forbids me to
tamper with safety equipment of any kind."
The young man made a final sequence of adjustments, lip between his
teeth, sweat glistening on his forehead, while the warning voice repeated over
and over that it was extremely dangerous to take out a scout craft of any
kind. Ahead of them, through the portal, they saw the Adamantine flash bright
as it turned, accelerating, then vanished in a spangle of hyperblue light.
"Where can they be going>." nattered Threepio. "That's nowhere near the
hyperspace jump point for Coruscant. If we can somehow extrapolate from the
jump point to learn where they're going..."
"They're not going anywhere." Marcopius was breathing hard now, setting
the controls. On the decoder screen before them the digitalized images of the
flagship and its escort continued to float among the empty, lifeless worlds
that comprised most of the sector.
"They're just taking the ships into hyperspace, period. Don't you see>.
The whole point has to be that Her Excellency vanishes, without a trace, after
she's seen to leave the rendezvous safely. They must have one turbo-powered
holo faker working for them." He put his hand to his chest, as if to massage
away some deep, troubling ache. "Hang on."
He eased forward on the levers, sweat sparkling in the cropped suede of