"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. "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 |
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