"Edmond Hamilton - The Star Hunters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Edmond)

Stack made a sound that was not quite a laugh. тАЬI'll bet there are some surprised men back in those
cruisers.тАЭ And then he said, тАЬThe hell with them. I'm scared."

He had reason to be, Mason thought, for he too was scared, right down to his backbone. They were
rushing in among the inner planets where shipping was heaviest and if they hit or even grazed a ship, ifтАФ

He wanted to close his eyes, not to look at the red and orange and dun-colored planets and moons
racing past them. He thought that the auto-pilot had gone crazy, he thought that they'd never make it, and
then the immense, overwhelming limb of Aldebaran was ahead and the SC-1419 was running down on
the gap between it and the smaller companion sun.

They shot through that pass between the glaring suns, and on across the planetary orbits. They had made
it halfway, and Mason was sweating, and the pilot sat hunched in his chair and closed his eyes.

The auto-pilot had gone crazy indeed, it wanted to kill them, it was hurling them headlong toward a great
orange planet that widened out with frightful rapidity. Then the metal mind cracked, and they heeled over,
past a far-swinging moon like a copper shield, and heeled again and rushed on.

And something like an eternity later a voice was saying, тАЬWe're through. By Heaven, we made it."

The SC-1419 was in deep space again, bolting for the far lights of Sirius and Sol and the Terran frontier,
and Aldebaran and its worlds were falling behind.

Stack, his face red and glistening, shouted, тАЬIt'll take those cruisers awhile to swing back around outside
their systemтАФthey'll never catch us now."

Mason, dazedly, became aware that someone was tugging at his arm. It was Finetti, his face gray with
fear and excitement.

"Mr. Mason, he's going. He can't last many minutes!"

Mason crashed back from his pinnacle of new hope. They had dared the citadel of Orion and run the
gauntlet of its star-ships, and escaped, and all for nothing if Oliphant died.

He plunged back along the companionway, with Finetti at his heels. One glance at Oliphant was enough.
His eyes were still closed, his face still unmoving, but his color had become ghastly and his respiration
was imperceptible. He was, obviously, dying.

Mason looked at him. He knew what he must do, what Oliphant himself would want done, so that his life
was not sacrificed in vain. But it took him moments before he could speak the words.

"Give him electroshock stimulant,тАЭ he told Finetti.

Finetti stared, startled. тАЬBut in his condition, it'll kill him almost instantly."

"Almost,тАЭ said Mason. тАЬHe may be able to talk. He's going to die anyway in a few minutes, nothing can
save him. Give it!"

His voice lashed Finetti into action. Finetti, his hands trembling affixed the electrodes. The whine of the
apparatus filled the cubby.