"Andrew J. Offutt - Spaceways 02 - Corundums Woman" - читать интересную книгу автора (Offutt Andrew J)

he bore. She proffered hers. He opened the airlock, explaining. They put the
four cylindrical pistols inside, closed the lock, double-checked. And buttoned
to open the outer hatch. They heard it. They waited. Ship's aircon was working
fine, but both of them sweated just the same. 16 "You bring any secret
cargo onboard, Suki?" She shook her head. "This shark talks like an edutape
and thinks we haul contraband." She shook her head. "Captain Ota, maybe. I
know he's run contraband before. We'll have that evidence anyhow, won't we-I
mean, we're in trouble." "What would you have done?" "Approved your action on
the spot. I'd not have been able to do it, though. But I concur, First Mate."
She had no more epicanthic fold than he, and not quite as much nose. He
touched her shoulder, which was less bony than his. "We'll be all right,
Suki." "Sure." Both of them jumped at the sound of clanks in the airlock. They
waited. They jumped again at the rap-rap, rap-rap on the other side of the
hatch. Prithvi swallowed. He pulled a lever, turned a wheel, pushed up a
toggle. They heard the closing of the outer hatch and automatic pressurizing
of the airlock. Now it had the ominous hollow sound of a dungeon
door. Thump! Prithvi set the inner hatch to open and stepped well back. He
kept his hands in plain sight. His and Suzuki's big weapons belts and empty
holsters were pathetically obvious. Nervously, they stared at the hatch. The
hatch opened. The three pirates entered Suyari. Their spacesuits made them
even more menacing, despite the fact that any spacefarer was used to them.
Strange that these were one each white, pastel blue, and yellow! Prith might
have expected pirates to wear black spacesuits. (Sure, he thought, and if one
slipped or something happened out there, they'd be next to invisible in space!
Of course they don't wear black suits, dummy, with or without a
skull-and-bones insignia!) Considerably more disconcerting was that
these 17 boarders were faceless, even eyeless. All three suits had opaqued
viewports. Prith knew these sharks were far from blind. They were seeing as
well as he. Above each helmet's viewport a little device was mounted, no
larger than the last joint of his thumb- A TP optic or camera. Long available
to the unim-plantable blind, telepresences served as eyes. Their double
feedback system enhanced their further use as reach-extenders and
grip-strengtheners-the safety devices once called waldoes. With electronic
help, they were marvelously effective even over long distances. While direct
retinal attachment was possible, Prithvi assumed that these had viewscreens
mounted inside the helmet viewports. He was seeing the backs of those screens.
A TP's scan could be set as high as 4x1, which meant that the wearer could
move its head as far to the left as it would go-and see to the right. More
common was the two-to-one setting, in which the wearer looked to the side and
saw behind its back. Suyari First Mate Prithvi 712-90-4119 rather imagined
that the pirates had their TPs set at one-to-one. Simple. They saw him as well
as he saw them. Better, perhaps. (Later reflection would remind him that
opaqued helmet viewplates were more sinister, fearsome, in addition to being
an effective disguise. This shark captain had a sense of style, of drama, of
creating effect.) About the one in the yellow suit, though--that was a shock.
The first two seemed normal. But their companion, with that adjustable-beam
laser repair unit cradled in three of four arms! Had a new race of aliens been
come across that Prithvi didn't know about? The pirates were daunting, made
far more menacing by their silent entry with leveled stoppers aimed in two
directions along the ship's corridor or tunnel-and by the third boarder's