"Miller,.Steve.And.Lee,.Sharon.-.Liaden.Universe.01.-.Conflict.Of.Honors.v1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Miller Steve)

thought of the dishonor attached to such an action cramped her
stomach further.

"You may go, Mendoza," the Trader told her, and she bowed again
before turning away. As she stepped into the hallway, she heard
him address another comment in High Liaden to Captain yo'Vaade,
something about having made a cantra and lost a big mouth to
feed.

SHIPYEAR 32

TRIPDAY 151

FIRST SHIFT

1.30 HOURS

Daxflan was two days out of Alcyone, and dinner looked terrible.
Cargo Master Mendoza meekly accepted her tray and carried it into
the crowded, steamy Terran mess hall. Peripheral vision showed
Second Mate Dagmar Collier waving to her from a table near the
door. Face averted, Priscilla moved to a newly vacated corner
table. Self-preservation would not allow her to sit with her back to
the noisy room, but the temptation was strong.

She frowned at the greasy soup and put her spoon down, then
picked up the chipped plastic mug. Grinning, she sipped the tepid
coffeetoot, recalling that Shelly had never sat down to a meal on
Daxflan without indulging in a rant, the salient point of which was
always the economic infeasibility of a tradeship serving' toot
instead of the real bean.

It had been Shelly's belief that serving' toot to the Terrans was
another deliberate snipe from the Trader. However, Priscilla had
overheard Liaden crew members complaining that the beverage
called tea aboard Daxflan had never seen Solcintra. Shelly had
only a spacer's handful of Liaden, High or Low, and had just
shaken her head at Priscilla's theory that perhaps none of the crew
was treated very well.

Resolutely, the cargo master put the' toot from her and picked up
her spoon. Horrible as it looked, the soup was dinner and she
would get no better; the alternative was the sodden breadroll and
the sticky lump of cheese she knew from experience to be inedible
to the point of nausea. It would have to be the soup.

Taking a gelid spoonful, Priscilla found her mind turning, as it had
these last two shifts, back to the containers they had taken on at
Alcyone Prime. Sealed cargo. Nothing unusual in that; she had the
mainfests listing the items the sealed hold contained, their weights