"Norton, Andre - Time Traders" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

behind Ashe for a tray. One pair were clearly Oriental; they were small, lean men with thin brackets
of long black mustaches on either side of their mobile mouths. Yet they spoke his own language with
the facility of the native born. In addition to the mustaches, each wore a blue tattoo mark on the
forehead and on the backs of their hands.
The second duo were even more fantastic. The huge rugged men wore their flaxen hair in braids
long enough to swing across their powerful shoulders, a fashion unlike any Ross had ever seen
"Gordon!" One of the braided giants swung half-way around from the table to halt Ashe as he
came down the aisle with his tray. "When did you get back? And where is Sanford?"
One of the Orientals laid down the spoon with which he had been vigorously stirring his coffee and
asked with real concern, "Another loss?"
Ashe shook his head. "Just reassignment. Sandy's holding down Outpost Gog and doing well." He
grinned and his face came to life with an expression of impish humor Ross would not have believed
possible. "He'll end up with a million or two if he doesn't watch out. He takes to trade as if he were
born with a beaker in his fist."
The Oriental laughed and then glanced at Ross. "Your new partner, Ashe?"
Some of the animation disappeared from Ashe's brown face; he was noncommittal again.
"Temporary assignment. This is Murdock." The introduction was flat enough to daunt Ross. "Hodaki,
Feng," he introduced the two Easterners with a nod as he put down his tray. "Jansen, Van Wyke."
That accounted for the blonds.
"Ashe!" A man arose at the other table and came to stand beside theirs. Thin, with a dark, narrow
face and restless eyes, he was much younger than the others, younger and not so well controlled. He
might answer questions if there was something in it for him, Ross decided, and pushed the thought
away.
"Well, Kurt?" Ashe's recognition was as dampening as it could be, and Ross's estimation of the
younger man went up a fraction when the snub appeared to have no effect upon him.
"Did you hear about Hardy?"
Feng looked as if he were about to speak, and Van Wyke frowned. Ashe made a deliberate process
of chewing and swallowing before he replied. "Naturally." His tone reduced whatever had happened
to Hardy to a matter-of-fact proceeding far removed from Kurt's implied melodrama.
"He's smashed up . . . kaput . . ." Kurt's accent, slight in the beginning, was thickening.
"Tortured . . ."
Ashe regarded him levelly. "You aren't on Hardy's run, are you?"
Still Kurt refused to be quashed. "Of course, I'm not! You know the run I am in training for. But
that is not saying that such can not happen as well on my run, or yours, or yours!" He pointed a
stabbing finger at Feng and then at the blond men.
"You can fall out of bed and break your neck, too, if your number comes up that way," observed
Jansen. "Go cry on Millaird's shoulder if it hurts you that much. You were told the score at your
briefing. You know why you were picked, and what might happen . . ."
Ross caught a faint glance aimed at him by Ashe. He was still totally in the dark, but he would not
try to pry any information from this crowd. Maybe part of their training was this hush-hush business.
He would wait and see, until he could get Kurt aside and do a little pumping. Meanwhile he ate
stolidly and tried to cover up his interest in the conversation.
"Then you are going to keep on saying `Yes, sir,' `No, sir,' to every order here--?"
Hodaki slammed his tattooed hand on the table. "Why this foolishness, Kurt? You well know how
and why we are picked for runs. Hardy had the deck stacked against him through no fault of the
project. That has happened before; it will happen again--"
"Which is what I have been saying! Do you wish it to happen to you? Pretty games those tribesmen
on your run play with their prisoners, do they not?"
"Oh, shut up!" Jansen got to his feet. Since he loomed at least five inches above Kurt and probably
could have broken him in two over one massive knee, his order commanded attention. "If you have