"Norton, Andre - Solar Queen 04 - Postmarked The Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)


"See Jellico--" Dane repeated. He knew he was saying that, but he could not hear his own voice. Nor
could he twist free from Kamil's grip.

"Down--come on--"

Not down--up! He had to go to see Jellico--

He was on the ladder. He must have made Ali understand. Only, they were going down--down--up--in
space which was which? Dane shook his head to clear it, and that only made it worse, so that he dared not
move at all, but clung to the ladder, a sole anchor in a spinning world.

Hands pulled at him. He heard talking, only the words had no meaning.

"Report--" With a vast effort he got that out in a rasping whisper.
There were two of them with him, Ali and someone else. Dane dared not turn his head to see. And they
were steering him to a cabin door. Ali pushed that back, and they entered, Dane limp between them.

Then for a stark moment the mists were gone, wiped away. He hung between the two who had supported
him, but he could see, as if the shock of what lay on the bunk had pulled him out of the dizzy spin of the
sickness.

The sleeper lay quietly, acceleration straps still about him as if he had not recovered from takeoff. His
tunic--his head--the face--

Dane gave a jerk that loosened the grasp of those with him. Their astonishment must have been as great as
his. He stumbled forward the step or two to the bunk to stare down at the man who lay there, eyes closed,
apparently asleep or unconscious. Then, holding on with one hand to keep his precarious balance, Dane
reached out the other to assure himself by touch that someone did lie there, that his eyes were not playing
tricks on him, for the face against the raised end of the bunk was the one he saw in mirrors. He was looking
down at--himself!

There was solid flesh and bone meeting the prod of his finger. But if a body did lie there, the face--was
that a dream out of his illness? Dane turned his head. Kamil was there, and with him Frank Mura, the cook
steward. Both of them were staring at the man on the bunk.

"No!" Dane choked out a denial of what he saw. "I'm--I'm--me! I'm Dane Thorson." And he recited the
same formula that had come to him in the inn on his first waking into the nightmare.

"Dane Thorson, assistant cargo master, the free trader Solar Queen, Terra registry 65-724910-JK." His
ident disk! He had that as proof. Now he got it out of his belt pocket, held it so they might see it, too, and
know that he was Dane Thorson. But if he was Dane Thorson, then who--

"What is going on?"

Tau! Medic Tau! With relief Dane hunched around, still keeping his hold on the bunk lest he sprawl on the
floor. Tau would know who he was. Why, he and Craig Tau had gone through almost as bad as this
together--on Khatka.

"I'm Dane," he said. "I can prove it. You're Craig Tau, and we were on Khatka, where you used magic to