"John G. Hemry - Lady Be Good" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hemry John G)

"Then she doesn't do much."

This time, Chen grinned. "Probably not. Uh, I don't want to imply anything, but I do know something
about engineering..."

"Our system's badly in need of overhaul. I know."

"I might be able to help. I asked your Chief Engineer about it, but she didn't say anything."

"She usually doesn't," I advised Chen. "Just show up and do whatever you can."

I was on the bridge, picking at my lunch, when Halley Keracides came up. She peered around. It wasn't
the blank surface examination of someone out of their depth, though. She apparently knew something
about ships. "Mind if I sit down?" she asked.

I indicated the observer's chair. "Feel free."

She twisted the chair, giving me an arch look as it protested swiveling. "I wanted to thank you again. It
was getting very bad in the survival compartment the crew had rigged up. I was getting ready to greet the
saints."

I nodded. "You're welcome."

"Where are we going?"

I'd been waiting for that question, but I guess Chen had been hesitant to ask. I balanced truth and
falsehood for a moment in my mind and decided the truth didn't matter at this point. "Fagin."

"Fagin?" she questioned. Then she repeated it, her voice sharper. "Fagin?"

"Yeah, Fagin."

"That's a war zone."

"That's why we're getting paid well to run this cargo in."

She watched me for a moment. "Why are you going to Fagin through Carnavon?"

So Ms. Keracides really did know something about ships. Or about the routes ships took between stars,
anyway. "We needed a different approach path in-system." I couldn't tell how much she understood what
that implied.
Her eyes narrowed. "You'll be out of normal transit lanes."

She understood a lot. "We want to avoid privateers. All three sides in the civil war have issued letters of
marque."

"You'll also be avoiding peacekeepers, won't you?"

She understood entirely too much. "It's a calculated risk. Perhaps you're unaware of the realities of