"Gregory Kern - Cap Kennedy 01 - Galaxy of the Lost" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kern Gregory)

"Like heaving rocks around and chopping down harmless trees?"
Chemile sneered. "Muscle, that's all you've got. When it comes to skill,
then I win the prize. Right, Cap?"

"Leave me out of this," said Kennedy. He was used to the interplay
between Saratov and Chemile, the sparring and good-natured banter
which, to outsiders, sounded like a deadly rivalry. "How long have you
been in here?"

"Most of the day. I wanted to see if the professor could spot me. Then
you came in and I just stayed."

In a strange, half-alive state his body slowed down; his skin, scaled with
minute flecks of photosensitive tissue, adopted the coloration of the
background against which he stood. A man-sized chameleon with an
infinitely superior protective mechanism developed on the harsh world
which had given him birth. A latent talent, perhaps, always possessed by
his race but now developed to a high level of perfection. Consciously
controlled and amazingly adaptable.

He said, "Don't bother to fill me in. I know what you told the professor,
Cap. There's no need to go all over it again."

"You know," snapped Saratov. "I don't. Tell me before I slam you
against that wall and paint you all over." He whistled as Chemile told of
the missing vessels. "What do you think, Prof?"

Luden said, precisely, "I have arrived at the conclusion that here we
have a problem of more than one variable. First, we can eliminate the
possibility of accident. Second, that of simple sabotage. It exists, naturally,
but it isn't a simple destruction of vessels for some personal or political
reason. If nothing else the faking of the beacon messages precludes a
simple and wanton act of multiple destruction. Touching the messages, I
am not satisfied as to the deductions drawn and presented in the
information supplied. They could be genuine and I think they are." He
lifted a thin hand to still any protestation. "The fact that no ship was
found in the coordinates given or traces of destruction ascertained does
not invalidate that conclusion. The messages could be genuine. Saratov,
precisely just how does an emergency beacon operate?"

"In two ways," said the giant. "On manual control or automatic. If
manually, the captainтАФor the highest in command if he is deadтАФtapes a
message and sends it by condensed bleep. That is, the message is speeded
up and emitted in a short burst backed by the fullest extent of available
power. Code is used, naturally; words are liable to distortion over the
distance it has to travel."

Luden touched a control and the eerie pips and shrills filled the room.