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

"Then he was meant to be me--for how long?" He asked that question of himself, but the captain
answered.

"No longer than Trewsworld, I would say. First, unless he was exceptionally well briefed, he couldn't play
the part with shipmates who really knew you. It would require a complete memory switch for that, and they
didn't have you in their hands long enough for that. You went off-ship and apparently were back again in
one Xechoian cin-cycle. A memory switch takes a planetary day at least. Also, he couldn't play sick either.
Tau would have been after him. So, he could say he was uncertain about his work--first run for him in
cargo command--and could hole up to check his tapes and the like. The Trewsworld run is not a long one.
He might have been able--with luck--to pull it off, or think he could, with that excuse.

"Second, there are only two reasons why he'd come on board--he was carrying something he had to
transport under guard, or he himself had a very necessary reason for reaching Trewsworld in disguise. He
was defeated mainly by chance--first, that you had your insides shaken up badly on Sargol so that their
poison didn't work, and, second, that he himself was not fit for space travel."

"Did he bring anything with him?" Dane asked. "The registered package--they might have been after that
all the time but have planned to walk off with it on Trewsworld, not jump me for it on Xecho."

"Trouble was," Jellico answered, "he was checked on board by the ramp cell, not by any of us. We don't
know whether he brought anything or not. There's nothing in the cabin, and the holds are safe-locked."

Safe-locked!

"Not the treasure room," Dane returned. "I left that on half seal--couldn't close it until the package came."
Jellico went to the com. "Shannon!" His call to the bridge alerting the assistant astrogator was loud enough
to make Dane's ears ring. "Down to the treasure room on the double. See if it's fully sealed or not!"

Dane tried to think. Where else, if the holds were on full seal, where else could something be hidden on the
Queen?


2. MEMORY LOST AND FOUND

"Two holds full seal, treasure half seal." Rip's voice rang hollowly over the inter-cabin com, loud enough
for Dane to hear. Captain Jellico looked to him for confirmation, and he nodded.

"As I left them. Must check the treasure--" Once on full seal, the intruder could not have opened either of
the lower compartments where the bulk of their cargo rested. But the treasure room, for registered and
special security shipments--Since nothing had been found in Dane's cabin with the dead stranger and it
was apparent from the fact he had strapped down that he had intended to ride out the voyage and not use
the elaborate disguise for an on-and-off invasion of the Queen, then if he did bring something on board,
they had better find out what as quickly as possible.

"You're in no shape--" began Tau, but Dane was already sitting up.

"We may be in no shape later if I don't!" he returned grimly. Once before the Queen had carried an almost
lethal cargo unwittingly, and that memory would ride with her crew for years. Wood taken on ship on
Sargol had been infested with creatures able to assume the color of anything they touched, creatures whose