"Andrew J. Offutt - Spaceways 08 - Under Twin Suns" - читать интересную книгу автора (Offutt Andrew J)

20
ship in the berth next door, H-l. And then the SolSecs moved in, out of nowhere like, and them two put up a fight!"
"The two newcomers heading for Berth H-l, you mean."
"Firm!"
"By coincidence," the inspector said for the benefit of the busily recording biochip, "the ship berthed be-side the
notorious Satana of the infamous Captain Hellfire belonged to the minor smuggler Karmal Pak."
Jahl said, "Uh."
The inspector scratched one stiff-looking green-bloused sleeve. "By coincidence, Pak and his crewmember Whiel
came back from The Barber Shop, station Soljer's bar and lounge . . . just as Hellfire and company alighted from
Satana. Sometimes I think that if it were not for coincidence, Jahl, very little of import would ever take place!" The
inspector paused, making a mental note to substitute "and TGO" for "Jahl," later. Perfect train-ing tape! "So Pak and
Whiel were accosted by your station Soljer Security-SolSec-and reached for their weapons.
"And . . . now do think carefully, Jahl, and tell me what took place then, and I do mean just who did what."

The three Soljer Securers, one of each sex so far as Trafalgar Cuw could see, popped up in their spiffy green and
blacks as if by magic. The two they accosted hit the deck, drawing as they went down. Real pros at taking care of
themselves, Trafalgar Cuw thought, even while he was feeling relief. The SolSeccers weren't here for him and his
companions, several of whom were perfectly capable, both in mental set and expertise, of wiping out every SolSeccer
on Soljer!
They had come close on Mott-chindi's space station . . .
Meanwhile the two suspects squeezed their stopper
21
grips so fast that the leader of the security squad was still mouthing ritual detaining phrases when she was hit by a
Number Two stopper beam. That meant Dance, on Jorinne and most places; the dangerous knockout Two setting was
used on stoppers manufactured out in the galaxy's boonies.
(Weird that most of the galaxy had been settled from ships Out There, on the spiral arm where Urth/Homeworld and
Hawking were, so that the Galaxy Center area was called the Farther Reaches!)
One of the other SolSeccers was hit by the same beam, and he and his superior lurched into the weird, ugly little
shuffle-dance almost in unison.
The third member of the security squad used his stopper-set on One, policer regs-on Whiel.
Oh wonderful, Trafalgar Cuw thought. Messy. A and B put the Freeze-Dance on C & D, while E zaps B! You need
a program to know who's doing what to whom!
It could get a lot messier than that, he knew, with darling twitch-jerk Hellfire around. Only semi-competent as
captain and a certified psychotic, so far as T. Cuw of Outreach was concerned. If Hellfire had a philosophy, it had to
be When in doubt, shoot]
"Captain!" Trafalgar yelled. "please! Do nothing! Go your way! No Three-beams here, please! Please Captain-into
the spoke!" Then, "Janja, we don't dare ignore this, because here we are, and the bad guys are getting the better of
the good guys. Put a Two on the blue shirt, will you?" So we bad guys can help out the good guys . . .
His bright yellow sleeve had rippled and rustled with his gestures; Janja's bright yellow-white hair bounced as she
dropped to one knee. Her stopper was coming out, and she held it before her in the professional's two-handed grip
she had learned from Quindy. She directed the almost invisible beam-One, not Two setting-on the man in the blue
shirt. Karmal Pak.
22
 Trafalgar kept moving. He entered that frozen tableau whose members concentrated only on each other, and he
ended the impasse by giving Pak a yellow-booted kick in the right tricep.
Trafalgar never'drew his stopper. Karmal Pak dropped his, releasing the SolSec leader from the neural disrup-tion
beam. Without pause, Trafalgar squatted fluidly. He used two fingers, just here, poking Pak as if casually. The
smuggler sagged and flopped, unconscious.
That was easy. Karmal's sidekick was even easier. He gave up.
Janja bolstered her stopper and stood up, trying to look casual. These Josers weren't going to be quite sure what