"Kay Kenyon - Maximum Ice" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kenyon Kay)

node, she hailed Fyodor, whose shadow she could see moving in the bright tent. "By the way, Fyodor,
thank you for the gift."

She placed the crystal on the table in front of her. In the semidark galley, it lay torpid, bleached of color.

"Fyodor?" She shouldn't disturb his work. But since she al-ready had, he should answer. "Fyodor?"

No response. Again she punched in the code for the remote unit, hailing him.

On-screen, the predawn had turned the world ghostly gray. The tent, vivid yellow, sat in a puddle of light
like melted but-ter. Fyodor was moving inside the tent. There were two people in the tent. The other
guard would be outside. StillтАж

She punched in the cockpit. "Margit?"

When the copilot answered, Zoya said, "This is Zoya. Just checking, but from this node I can't hail the
research tent."

"Stand by." A click, and Zoya was on hold. She rose, gazing at the view screen. Now there was only one
person in the tent, hunkered over. The drill was giving Fyodor a bad time.

More clicks. Margit would take the comm problem seri-ously. From a long space tradition, any
mechanical problem, no matter how small, got immediate attention.

Zoya heard a noise down the corridor. Someone running.

She strode to the door, seeing Janos hurrying down the cor-ridor toward the cockpit. In the next instant,
a braying alarm kicked in, bringing crew into the corridor, some armed, all rushing to stations.

A movement on-screen caught her attention. Swirling to face the view screen, Zoya saw someone
standing outside. It wasn't Fyodor. Whoever it was, heтАФshe thought it a heтАФwas covered in blood.
Crimson rags hung from him like torn flesh. And he was screaming. She could hear nothing, but the strain
in the neck and gape of the mouth spoke loudly enough. The figure stood directly facing the shuttle, arms
slightly raised, his face contorted in a monstrous howl that seemed to be aimed directly at her.

A spray of sand obscured the viewing lens for an instant. When it cleared, the figure was gone.

Keeping close to the wall so as to be out of the way of hurry-ing crew, Zoya made her way to the
cockpit. She no more than put her head inside the door when Janos snapped, "Stay out of the way."

"I saw someone out there, a strangerтАж"

Janos was bent over the controls, punching in the feed from additional external cameras. "We all saw
him. What do you think the alarm was about?" At the control panel, four views of the tent from ship's
cameras showed a silent scene: tent swollen with light, gray snow turning pink in the sunriseтАФbut all
silent, unmoving. No sign of the man in rags. Behind her, sev-eral crew had formed up, all guns and boots
and wild eyes.

Janos barked at the pilot, "Tomos, hail the captain, and keep a wide surveillance, this could be just the
first wave." He turned to the armed unit. "You, you, and you, take the main hatchway, the rest go out the