"Donald Malcolm - The Unknown Shore" - читать интересную книгу автора (Malcom Donald)

lighting was a blessing. He located a locker where disposal bags were
stored. Taking the opaque bag back to the cocoon, he put the body into it
and sealed it up. The man could be identified later, when time allowed.

He checked the rest of the cocoons and found one with its lid torn free.
The bad luck of the draw, he thought. It could have been meтАФor Barbara
тАФBut she was safer. He knew that the others would wake in their own
time, so he went to examine the rest of the ship.

He went forward to the bridge and activated the external scanners; only
two screens responded and each showed blackness with a few faint stars.
The ship seemed to be drifting, without spin. He tried the radio and the
Mayday signal. Nothing happened. These were problems for the engineers.
His concern was for the cargo in the refrigeration tanks.

He walked toward the stern of the ship and reached the tanks. Full
lighting cut back in and he put it down to the vagaries of electricity. The
tanks were divided into compartments and each compartment had its
own temperature gauges and refrigeration machinery.

The ten slots in each tank unit held that number of people. If an entire
unit failed, 10 people would be affected. Anxiously, he scanned the gauges.
Numbers 4, 7, and 11 glowed red. All the rest were green.

It was now certain that the ship had been damaged by the Enemy.
Everything pointed to it. He checked the red-glowing gauges again. The
three needles were just flickering past the safety figure. Something might
be done yet. He ran back along the corridor and burst into the O-space
cocoon room. There was great confusion now that most of the people were
up. Some were clustered around the opaque bag. He didn't stop to explain.
They could work it out for themselves. He sought out Brandt and drew
him aside.

"Three of the tanks are damaged. If we hurry, we might be able to do
something."

Without warning, the ship gave a lurch and the lights dimmed, then
came on full again. Rangone broke into a cold sweat and his eyes strayed
to the bundle in the bag.

"We've more than the tanks to see about," Brandt said. "The ship
almost went back into O-space there. That's the refrigeration engineer,
sitting in the corner. I'll get the generator engineer." He shouted for him
while Rangone got hold of the tank man and explained the situation.

Brandt hollered again. "Would everyone please strap in again. Under no
circumstances must anyone leave here until I give the word. Major
Essenden, please ensure my order is obeyed. It includes you."

The two engineers filed out of the room with Brandt and Rangone. The