"C M Kornbluth - That Share Of Glory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kornbluth C M)

"YourтАФ?" began the trader, stupefied.



The chief broke hi; "I'll fix you a cabin, Herald. We've got some bulkheads I can rig aft for a snug little
space, not roomy, but the best a little ship like this can afford."



The trader collapsed into a Ducket seat as the chief bustled aft and Alen followed.



"Herald," the chief said with some embarrassment after he had collared two crewmen and set them to
work, "you'll have to excuse our good master trader. He's new to the interstar
lanes and he doesn't exactly know the jets yet. Between us we'll get him squared away."



Alen inspected the cubicle run up for himтАФa satisfactory enclosure affording him the decent privacy he
rated. He dismissed the chief and the crewmen with a nod and settled himself on the cot.



Beneath the iron composure in which he had been trained, he felt scared and alone. Not even old
Machiavelli seemed to offer comfort or council: "There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more
perilous to conduct, or, more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new
order of things," said Chapter Six.



But what said Chapter Twenty-Six? "Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great."



Starsong was not a happy ship. Blackbeard's nagging stinginess hung over the crew like a thundercloud,
but Alen professed not to notice. He walked regularly fore and aft for two hours a day greeting the crew
members in their various native tongues and then wrapping himself in the reserve the Order
demandedтАФthough he longed to salute them man-toman, eat with them, gossip about their native planets,
the past misdeeds that had brought them to their berths aboard the miserly Starsong, their hopes for the
future. The Rule of the College and Order of Heralds decreed otherwise. He accepted the uncoverings of
the crew with a nod and tried to be pleased because they stood in growing awe of him that ranged from
Chief Elwon's Hvely appreciation of a Herald's skill to Wiper Jukkl's superstitious reverence. Jukkl was a
low-browed specimen from a planet of the decadent Sirius system. He outdid the normal slovenliness of
an all-male crew on a freighter