"Zach Hughes - Mother Lode" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hughes Zach)

"Yes."

"And you did some work for my father?"

"On the Mother Lode," he said. "You won't saff me if I sit down?"

She laughed. "Sit. I've been gone for six years. The last letter I had from
my father was almost a year ago. What is a Mother Lode?"

"A Mule Class space-going tug."

"Good God," she said, sitting down weakly.
 "You didn't know?" Gale asked. He had deep, dark brown eyes, a
regular, pleasant face, a mouth that smiled easily and attractively.

"I've had a lot of surprises lately."

"He bought it just under a year ago. She's in good shape. Really. She
was on service with the Trans-Zede Corporation. She was one of the last
Mules to be built, as a matter of fact."

"What in hell did my father want with a Mule?" she asked.

Gale shrugged. "I didn't ask."

"What does an antiquated space-going tug cost?"

He named a figure that was within a few thousand credits of the face
value of the mortgage she'd found in her father's desk.

"The reason I came over tonight," Denton said, "is because the pad rent
is due on the Lode. The port's government operated, you knowтАФ"

"No, I didn't."

"Well, it is. And they get pretty damned sticky if the pad rent is late."

"How much?"

"A hundred and fifty credits for the month."

"Fine." That, along with the current power bill, would clean out her
father's checkbook.

"If you like, I can take the check with me," Gale said.

"I'd appreciate that." She went into the office, wrote the amount. "How
do I make it out?" she called.

"Canadian County Spaceport Authority," he answered.