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

was the cold, winter air of New Earth outside instead of the harsh vacuum
of space, she suddenly felt lonely.

"Still want to sell her, huh?"

"Yes."

"I just wish I had the money to buy her," he said.

"I wish you did, too."

"I haven't had a chance to ask around. If you want me to, I will."

"Please do."

He touched buttons on the console. An electronic hiss accompanied the
brightening of the computer screen. "Know anything about the Century?"

"We had one at the Academy in my first year, then it was replaced with
a first generation Unicloud."

"The Century will do everything a Unicloud will do."

"But slower," she said.

"True. But how vital are a few nanoseconds?"

"Most of the time, not vital," she said.

"There was some senility in the cloud chambers when I first began work
on her," Denton said. "Nothing serious. Required recharging the Verbolt
fields. Reloading. You'll find that she's as crisp as new."

"I don't really anticipateтАФ"

A beeper at Gale's waist buzzed. He put the instrument to his lips,
identified himself. Erin, examining the controls of the Mule, didn't hear
the communication.

"I have to run over to the office," he said. "Someone wants to give me
some money and I find that to be one of the more rewarding aspects of
having my own business. If you'll wait here, I'll be back in a few minutes
and I'll show you the rest of the layout."

Erin nodded. In a careful search of the house she had turned up
nothing to indicate why a retired spacemanтАФ who had said repeatedly
that if he never had to breath recycled air again he would be
happyтАФwould put his entire assets into a spaceship. She went into the
Mule's living quarters. Crews of two had spent long months in the large
and luxurious private cabins aboard the Lode when she was on space duty.