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

"Very important."

"And you are satisfied that I am the man you think?"

"I am." Chan was definite. "You are Captain Kennedy of FATE. You are
a Free Acting Terran Envoy and I was advised to contact you by higher
authority. I have not asked to see your identification because there is no
need. I have already checked your body-emissions against the master
pattern and your psychological Behavior is what I had expected. I also
realize that I cannot coerce you or force you in any way. Incidentally,
Sharon was acting under my orders when she contacted you on the beach.
I had to be absolutely certain."

His manner, Kennedy noted, had altered a little. He was no longer the
blustering, overpowering agent infected with delusions of grandeurтАФan
attitude guaranteed to arouse a predictable response in the man he had
come to see. Or perhaps the byplay had been for the benefit of the girl.
Female operatives were rarely to be wholly trusted; emotion played too
large a part in their makeup.

Glancing at the case, Kennedy said, "Well, now that we are settled,
what's this all about?"

"This." Chan lifted a small mechanism from the case. He rested it on
the table between them. "Listen."

He touched a stud and the air became filled with sound.

It was thin, eerie, a blur of pips and shrills almost lost against a
background of static. A coldness came with it, a sense of vast emptiness
and hopeless despair which chilled the warmth of the room and somehow
made the bright sunshine streaming through the windows duller than it
had been before. It was eldritch, haunting, laden with skin-prickling
terrors. Kennedy knew what it was.

Somewhere in space a ship had died.

He listened quietly until it came to an end, then gestured for Chan to
replay it, this time noting the time on his watch.

"Thirty-four seconds," he said as again silence replaced the sound from
the recorder. "Was the rest the same?"

"There was no more."

"Are you positive?"

"Yes."

"It doesn't make sense," said Kennedy. "The ship was damaged in some