"Zach Hughes - Deep Freeze" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hughes Zach)

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Deep Freeze by Zach
Hughes
CHAPTER ONE

Dan Webster came into the control room wearing gym shorts. He had a
towel draped around his neck. Sweat gleamed on his chest and shoulders.

"Nice of you to decide to join me," his wife said. "Not that it's anything
of priority. Certainly not as important as your daily exercise."

Dan grinned. "I did detect a certain amount of urgency in your voice,
Mama."

"Don't call me Mama," she said. "I am not your mother."

"Thank God," he said. He came to stand behind her. "With this
machine it is impossible to get lost."

Fran Webster lifted her eyebrows and said, "Tell that to the machine."

"Let me take a look. Let's see what you've done wrong," Dan said, taking
Fran's place in the command chair and swiveling it toward the console of
the Century Series computer.

Fran said, "Hummmph."

Dan reached out to pat her on her soft rump. Touching her renewed his
awareness that at an age which represented almost three quarters of her
life expectancyтАФand hisтАФshe was still shapely and firm, but there would
be time for that. There was always plenty of time when two people alone
on a small ship set out to cover considerable distances across the
emptiness of space. At the moment it was of interest to find out why the
computer was confused.

He was a tall man, Dan Webster, a smiling man. Although in a certain
light his pale scalp gleamed on the back of his head he still had most of his
hair. The decades had been kind to him. Fran, almost as tall as he, had a
mature figure. She was an attractive woman. Her brown hair was just
beginning to lighten with gray. She pinched him playfully as she moved
aside to let him take the command chair.

"Now the thing to remember," Dan said, "is not to push any buttons