"Ardath Mayhar - Khi to Freedom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mayhar Ardath)

suspicion that the Ginli were breaking every article and intent of the
investigation laws, I would never have put one single creature, large or
small, rational or not, into their dirty hands.
I paused for a long moment, getting myself in hand. IтАЩd done it now.
There was no way the Ginli could or would let me go free to spread this
unpalatable truth. They were very careful of their reputation among the
other varieties of Primate that tenanted the worlds. And besides, if the
truth were known, they would be confined to their own planet. Nobody
would be allowed to lease or sell them a ship or to carry them as
passengers until they were found to have brought themselves into a more
civilized state.
I had to run for it and hope IтАЩd be luckier than I deserved to be. I closed
my eyes and pictured the schematics of the ship. Lifeboat stations
aftтАФahh. There should be a life-bay at the end of this segment of corridor.
If there were no Ginli in the passage, and if I managed to open the
hatchway leading into the bay, and if I could boot it loose from the ship
before the alarm sealed the outer hatches, I might just make it.
I bent over Ten and felt up and down his coverall. And there it wasтАФthe
master key that all the Brass used. I unzipped the pocket and took the
thing out, then went to the door and palmed the lock. The door slipped
aside into the wall, and I burst out at full gallop. At this point, caution
made no sense at all. Only speed could help me now.
I bowled over a small-sized Ginli who was carrying a covered tray along
the corridor. Before he hit the wall, I was at the hatch of the life-bay. The
master was in my hand, and I was through faster than it takes to tell it.
With much relief I heard the hatch slide shut behind me. At least IтАЩd be
uninterrupted while I figured out the procedure.
It was simple, after all. If, that is, you read Ginli, which was a thing
strictly forbidden to all non-Ginli personnel. But; none of the Enbos ever
took kindly to rules, and old Hale less than most. IтАЩd learned to speak and
to read Ginli while being educated for my work as a Scout, and none of my
employers had suspected it. So a lever marked, тАЬOuter HatchтАЭ invited
pushing, and one that announced, тАЬEmergency DriveтАЭ insisted on being
moved along its slot. I could hear the connections with the ship being
broken. The light wavered as onboard generators took over.
Light poured in from the outer hatchway, which was wide open in an
instant. I hit the drive, and power pulsed through the little craft and the
seat of my pants. We were off!
It took seconds for the drive to overcome inertia. We moved, but too
slowly. I could see the wide sky, an orange sun. Then I felt a jarring,
ripping, screeching of metal in the aft section of the lifeboat. I held my
breath, but there was air. No hissing announced a breach in the cabin
compartment. I took it that I had lost something back there, but it was too
late to worry about it. I shoved the power lever all the way up. The lifeboat
shuddered. Then it took off like a Varlian through treetops.
The Ginli ship came into view through a side port. Uh-oh! The rear
steering-vanes that allowed the boat to land on a world with fair gravity
were sticking out of the now-closed hatch like mouse-legs from the mouth
of a smug cat. That blew it.
But there was a world rocketing toward me with terrifying speed. I was