"Andrew J. Offutt - Spaceways 09 - In Quest of Qalara" - читать интересную книгу автора (Offutt Andrew J)

always been that way, and then I come back and it's over, with
whoever-she-was, and it's better with Kenny and me. Do Sak and Shig know that?
They certainly know that Kenowa and I have an agreement, just as she and I
both know I'm not the sort who possibly could remain either celibate or
monogamous! Hmm-whether Sak and Shig know that or not doesn't much matter. It
doesn't help their bad case of swollen balls, and it doesn't excuse me for
breaking my own shipboard rules! He passed a side tunnel, pale blue. Coronet
was hardly enormous, but even a "small" spacer wasn't small. The engines
worked on, stealing matter from space and turning it into energy that kept the
ship hurtling on at a velocity that not even Jonuta could grasp, with all his
intelligence and after all his years on the spaceways. Axial spin provided
centrifugal force, which was gravity's twin brother. On Coronet it was
maintained at .8 standard G. That was standard operating procedure in
spacecraft. Since their next stop would be Qalara and Qalara's gravity was
.82, it was also perfect preparation for Jonuta's next homecoming. He walked
easily. "The trouble is," he muttered, and broke off to keep his thoughts to
himself, is Kenny only taking care of herself with the (very!) warm body at
hand, that fobby Dem, or is she really interested in him? (Whatever
"interested in" means!) If that's the case, we could be in trouble, after all
these years-and so could Coronet! Could we all survive it, if Kenowa and I
parted? How about if we were onboard the same ship?! He paused at the blue
door to his own cabin. Another thought had come skidding in on a tangential
course. Can we all survive if Kenowa and I don't part, but try to continue
this way? For all I know HReenee and Dem are inseparable. For 35 all I know
they are even more fickle than I (am). There's more I don't know about her
than about . . . bop-ball! And Jonuta, who had never played bop-ball or
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watched a game, entered his cabin. A reddish, gold-dotted plain ran out to
lavender mountains that reared spikily under a pinkish sky. From behind the
leftward peaks emanated a warm, coppery-gold glow. This was not a mural, or
any sort of painting; it was the illusion of spacious reality provided by the
holoprojection that was a hobby and a love of Kislar Jonuta of Qalara. On the
plain stretching away before him, red-and-tan animals, ruminants, fed
peacefully. Across the sky away out there in the simulated distance a white
cloud sprawled, like spilt buttermilk. By the time he walked in he had decided
what he should do, like it or not. HReenee was disappointed, of course, but
tried to understand when he said he had lots to do and thought she needed and
would welcome some time on the con, anyhow. She straightened the clothing she
had deliberately disarrayed for him, and went to join Sak. That accomplished
little positive purpose save in Jonuta's mind. He felt Sak would appreciate
it, too. It did little for Jonuta's mental state, or HReenee's, or of the
horny Terasak she sat beside in the con-cabin. 2 An exhaustive 1977-1981 [Old
Style] study of twenty-seven women of widely varying ages showed the women
superior to males in adapting to the physical and psychological rigors of
those tests. A spokesman far N.A.S.A. [Homeworld], in response to the query
why the U.S. had put no women into space by 1980, said, ''A lot of reasons
were tossed around, but the main one was that until the shuttle came along,