"Larry Niven - Convergent series" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

noise of the spaceport, "Rappaport, where's Kameon?"

Like Turnbull, Rappaport had to raise his voice. "Dead."

"Dead? Was it the ship? Rappaport, did the ship kill him?"

"No."

"Then what? Is his body aboard?"

"Turnbull, I dxon't want to talk about it. No, his body isn't aboard. His--" Rappaport ground the
heels of his hands into his eyes, like a man with a blinding headache. "His grave," he said,
emphasizing the word, "has a nice black border around it. Let's leave it at that."

But they couldn't, of course.

Two security officers caught up with them near the edge of the field. "Stop him," said Turnbull,
and they each took an arm. Rappaport stopped walking and turned.

"Have you forgotten that I'm carrying a destruct capsule?"

"What about it?" For the moment Turnbull really didn't understand what he meant.

"Any more interference and I'll use it. Understand this, Turnbull. I don't care any more. Project
Overcee is over. I don't know where I go from here. The best thing we can do is blow up that ship
and stay in our own solar system."

"Man, have you gone crazy? What happened out there? You-- meet aliens?"

"No comment. --No, I'll answer that one. We didn't meet aliens. Now tell your comedian friends to
let go."

Turnbull let himself realize that the man wasn't bluffing. Rappaport was prepared to commit
suicide. Turnbull, the instinctive politician, weighed changes and gambled.



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"If you havent decided to talk in twenty-four hours we'll let you go. I promise that. We'll keep
you here 'til then, by force if necessary. Just to give you an opportunity to change your mind."

Rappaport thought it over. The security men still held his arms, but cautiously, now, standing as
far back as they could, in case his personal bomb went off.

"Seems fair," he said at last, "if you're honest. Sure, I'll wait twenty-four hours."

"Good." Turnbull turned to lead the way back to his office. Instead, he merely stared.