"Murray Leinster - Space Platform" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

"Be sure say hot," repeated Braun.
Rather incredibly, he smiled. Then he turned andj walked away. And Joe went back to his seat in the
empty bus. He sat there and waited for it fo start out to the Shed, and tried to figure out what the message
meant. Since it was for Major Holt, it had something to do with security. And security meant defense
against sabotage. And "hot" might mean merely "significant," but in these days, and here, it was likely to
mean something else altogether. In fact, it might mean something to make the hair stand on .end when
thought of in connection with the Space Platform. i
Joe continued to wait for the bus to start. He becamei convinced that Braun's use of the word "hot" did
not! mean merely, "significant." The other meaning was un-1 doubtedly what Braun had in mind. 1
Joe's teeth tried to chatter. тАв
He didn't let them. 'тАв

6
MAJOR HOLT wasn't to be found when Joe got out to the Shed. And he wasn't in the officers' quarters area
behind it. There was only his housekeeper, who yawned pointedly as she let Joe in. Sally was presumably
long since asleep. Joe didn't know of any way to get hold of the Major, but he assured himself that Braun
was a good guy. If he wasn't he wouldn't have insisted on taking a licking before he apologized. So Joe
uneasily let himself be led to a room with a cot in it, and he was asleep in what seemed seconds. But he
was badly worried.
In fact, he woke next morning at a practically unearthly hour, because Braun's message was on his mind.
He was downstairs waiting when the housekeeper appeared. She looked startled.
"Major Holt?" he asked.
But the Major was gone. He must have done with no more than three or four hours sleep. There was an
empty coffeecup whose contents he'd drunk before going back to the Security office.
Joe trudged to the barbedwire enclosure around the officers' quarters area, and explained to the sentry
there where he wanted to go. A sleepy driver whisked him around the halfmile circle to the security
building. There he found his way to Major Holt's office.
The Major's plain and gloomy secretary was already on the job. She led him in to Major Holt. He blinked
at the sight of Joe.
"Hm.... I have some news," he observed. "We backtracked the parcel that exploded when it was dumped
from the plane."
Joe had almost forgotten it. Too many other things had happened since.
"We've got two very likely prisoners out of that affair," said the Major. "They may talk. We didn't get the
sandy haired man who helped fuel your plane, but emergency inspection of other transport planes has
turned up three other grenades in wheel-wells, waiting to be armed at a later time. And other CO2 bottles
have turned up to have something else in them. Very nice work!"
Joe said politely, "That's fine, sir."
"All in all, we've taken a loss in the gyros, but we've got a chance to forestall some other disasters. Did
you find the men you were looking for?"
"I've found them, butтАФ"
"I'll have them transferred to work under your direction," said the Major. "Their names?"
Joe gave them. The Major wrote them down.
"Very good. I'm busy nowтАФ"
"I've something to report," said Joe. "I think it should be checked right away. I don't feel too good about
it."
The Major waited. And Joe explained, very carefully,
about the fight on the Platform the day before, Braun's insistence on finishing that fight in Bootstrap, and
then the hot tip he'd given Joe after everything was over. He repeated the message exactly, word for word.
The Major, to do him justice, did not interrupt. He listened with an expression that varied between
grimness and fatigue. When Joe ended he picked up a telephone. He talked briefly. Joe felt a reluctant sort