"Andre Norton - Solar Queen 06 - Derelict For Trade" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

they'd discussed this option, even though the hospitality of the Kanddoyd
race towards humans was well known. But now, even that option had been
snatched from them, and they might not even have to worry about
bankruptcy; ravening plasmabolts of the Kanddoyd defenses would see to
that. Habitats were so vulnerable to space debris that their defenders
tended to shoot first and ask questions afterwards.

The silence was broken by the leisurely click of magboots on the
deckplates. Dane looked up, saw the comfortable bulk of cargo master Van
Ryke looming over him, the white-blond bushy brows raised in mild
question.
 The captain said, "Ya. Send out SOS and Salvage Call. Standard terms."

As the Martian-born comtech turned to obey, Dane felt the reaction of
his crewmates. His own heart seemed to have been knocked awry by
whatever they had hit. He remembered how, just minutes before, he'd
envisioned the various ways his crewmates each responded to danger.
He'd come to know them well in his time aboard the Queen, and he knew
how much they trusted one another, and the captain. And now they
seemed to have reached the end of their shiptime together.

Salvage would break the Queen permanentlyтАФthere was no way out of
that.

He looked down at his hands, which seemed suddenly unfamiliar. They
were the hands of a manтАФa big, rawboned man, callused and strong. He'd
been scarcely out of his teens when he'd come to the Queen, straight from
Pool and training. He'd finished his growing up with this crew. The Queen
was his home. He flexed his hands, thinking: I guess I should consider
myself lucky to be alive, even for a short time.

A broad hand clapped his shoulder and squeezed. He looked up into
Van Ryke's good-humored eyes and his reassuring smile. A faint hope
awoke. If Van Ryke didn't seem worried, maybe there was an angle no one
else had seen as yet.

Tang Ya sat back and sighed. "It'll be at least an hour before we hear
anything," he said.

The captain nodded curtly. "Then we have an hour to plan." He keyed
the com so everyone on board could participate. "We hit something,
probably space debris, since there was nothing in the charts. We knew
when we voted on this option that this was the closest margin we'd ever
runтАФwe had to balance our fuel and hyperspace jump against the needs of
landing. I don't have to calculate the odds against running into something
in snapout. We all know they're in the billions against one, but it seems
this time our luck ran out."

Dane flexed his hands again.