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

"Not a test," he said quickly. "It was just that I wanted to see if you could
throw fresh light on the incident. IтАФ"

"Was the Wankle the first?"

"No."

"So other ships have vanished. How many?"

"Three."

"In the same circumstances?"

"Yes, butтАФ"

"No 'buts,' you fool! You've wasted enough time. Tell me about them."
Kennedy frowned as the story was repeated. "One could be accident," he
said. "Two could be coincidence. Three must mean sabotage. FourтАФ" He
broke off, scowling. "All in the same area?"

"No," said Chan hastily. "That is, not exactly. Every ship left from a
different world and had a different destination. That's why I didn't make a
point of it at first; the losses seem to have no correlation. A mining hulk
from Xand, a private yacht from Lisht, a pilgrim ship from Zangreb, and
now the Wankle. The first two we didn't bother about; the time-element
precluded all hope of rescue. At the third we had a coincidence. Another
vessel following the same route was questioned after we bad received the
message. It hadn't seen anything."

"Did it pick up the beacon?"

"No more than we did. The captain checked, then decided it must be a
freak transmission. I can't really blame him. Anyway, you know what these
Chenenians are like; if they can't see a thing, touch it, smell it, and taste it,
to them it doesn't exist."

So the captain had been a Chenenian, which could mean little or much.
On their world bribery was a way of life and maybe the man had been paid
to act dumb. Kennedy frowned, not liking the way the interview was going.
Armat Chan seemed to have a chip on his shoulder despite his one
attempt to be friendly. Rivalry, perhaps, the irritation felt by a man of
self-inflated importance when faced with a superior. A man used to giving
orders and having them obeyed without question now faced with a man
who took no orders and who had proved himself more adept in a hundred
different ways.

Bluntly he said, "Why tell me all this? Just what is it you want?"

"Isn't that obvious?"