"Andre Norton - Jern Murdock 02 - Uncharted Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

that it was throughhim we had come out of our brush with Patrol and
Guild as well as wehad--with a zero stone still in our possession.For it was
Eet's intention, which I could share at more optimistic times, tosearch out
the source of the stones. Some small things I had noted on theunknown planet
of the caches made me sure that Eet knew more about theunknown
civilization or confederation which had first used the stones thanhe had told
me. And he was right in that the man who had the secret of theirsource could
name his own price--always providing he could manage to marketthat secret
without winding up knifed, burned, or disintegrated in somemessy fashion
before he could sell it properly.We had found a ship in a break-down yard
maintained by a Salarik who knewbargaining as even my late master (whom I had
heretofore thought unbeatable)did not. I will admit at once that without Eet
I would not have lasted tenplanet minutes against such skill and would
have issued forth owning themost battered junk the alien had sitting
lopsidedly on rusting fins. But theSalariki are feline-ancestered, and
perhaps Eet's cat mother gave himspecial insight into the other's mind.
The result was we emerged with auseful ship. It was old, it had been
through changes of registry many times,but it was, Eet insisted, sound. And
it was small enough for the planethopping we had in mind. Also, it was,
when Eet finished bargaining, withinthe price we could pay, which in the end
included its being serviced forspace and moved to the port ready for
take-off.But there it had sat through far too many days, lacking a pilot.
Eet mighthave qualified had he inhabited a body humanoid enough to
master thecontrols. I had never yet come to the end of any branch of
knowledge in mycompanion, who might evade a direct answer to be sure, but
whose supremeconfidence always led me to believe that he did have the correct
one.It was now a simple problem: We had a ship but no pilot. We were piling
uprental on the field and we could not lift. And we were very close to the
endof that small sum we had left after we paid for the ship. Such gems
asremained in my belt were not enough to do more than pay for a couple
moredays' reckoning at the caravansary, if I could find a buyer. And that
wasanother worry to tug at my mind.As Vondar's assistant and apprentice, I had
met many of the major gem buyerson scores of planets. But it was to Ustle
that they opened their doors andgave confidence. When I dealt on my own I
might find the prospect bleak,unless I drifted into what was so often the
downfall of the ambitious, thefringes of the black market which dealt in
stolen gems or those with dubiouspasts. And there I would come face to face
with the Guild, a prospect whichwas enough to warn me off even more than a
desire to keep my record clean.I had not found a pilot. Resolutely now I
pushed my worries back into theimmediate channel. Deal with one thing at a
time, and that, the one facingyou. We had to have a pilot to lift, and we had
to lift soon, very soon, orlose the ship before making a single venture into
space with her.None of the reputable hiring agencies had available a man who
would bewilling--at our wages--to ship out on what would seem a desperate
venture,the more so when I could not offer any voyage bond. This left the
rejects,men black-listed by major lines, written off agency books for some
mistakeor crime. And to find such a one I must go down into the Off-port, that
partof the city where even the Patrol and local police went on sufferance and
incouples, where the Guild ruled. To call attention to myself there was
askingfor a disagreeable future--kidnaping, mind scanning, all the other