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

almost like seeing a part of himself limp and flaccid in the medic's grasp.

"We were hoping--are hoping--you know," Tau returned. "But the captain wants it now."

As if that were an introduction, Captain Jellico came in. His deeply tanned face with the blaster scar along
one cheek showed no readable emotion, as was usual. But he glanced from the mask Tau was holding to
Dane and back again.

"Diabolically clever piece of work," he commented. "Not a quick job."

"Nor made on Xecho either, I would say." Tau put away the mask, to Dane's relief. "That is the product of
an expert."

The captain came to Dane's side and held out his hand. On the palm rested a colored tridee. It was of a
man. His skin did not have the brown tan of a crewman but was bleached looking, though he must be
Terran or Terran colonial bred. There was an odd, fixed look in his eyes, a frozen stillness to his features
that was disquieting. His hair was sparse, sandy brown, his eyebrows above those fixed eyes were thin and
ragged, and he had a rash of freckles across his upper cheekbones. To Dane he was a complete stranger.

"Who--?"

Jellico gestured to the mask. "The man behind that. You don't know him?"
"Never saw him--that I can remember."

"He had your belongings, a forged ident in the bargain, and that mask. He was sent aboard to be you. And
where were you?"

Dane outlined his adventures after waking in the inn, adding the information about the missing package--if
it was missing.

"Inform the port police?" he suggested tentatively.

"Not for robbery, I think." Jellico turned the tridee to look down at the face in it, as if, by the very intensity
of his gaze, he could force some answer to the riddle. "This was a setup that required a lot of planning. It
was, I believe, a means of getting a man on board."

"A cargo master aboard, sir," Dane corrected eagerly, "who would have access to--"

Jellico nodded sharply. "Fair assumption. Stowage reports--what are we shipping that would be worth
such a long-range plan?"

Dane, entrusted for the first time with full authority for the stowage, could have recited the entire list. He
ran over it swiftly now in his mind. But there was nothing--nothing that important. A mask would require
time to make, a reason for a long-thought-out buildup. He turned to Tau.

"I was poisoned?"

"You were. If it hadn't been for the metabolism shift after that ceremonial drink on Sargol--" He shook his
head. "Whether they meant to have you dead or just put you out for a long time--anyway, normally it
would have finished you."