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

them. Janja knew better. She possessed an ability they did not, and thus could
not be called a human. Not inhuman or subhuman, but more than human. They
devoted much attention to their physical selves and appearance and they made
Things. They had done very very little to get to know themselves, to improve
their inner selves (save in the cases of a few individuals), for millenia. She
was among them, because they had dragged her off Aglaya and thrown her among
them. Still, she was not of them; merely among them. As a person named Byron
had put it, time out of mind, she was often wrapped "In a shroud of thoughts
which were not/Their thoughts." And for a year she had sustained herself by
holding one goal, by never forgetting the one driving intent that gave her
purpose. It had a name, and the name was Jonuta. She would remove Jonuta from
the spaceways his presence soiled. That was her vow. She was worthy of
Sunmother and worthy of Aglii and Aglaya. She would be worthy of the spaceways
and thought that she was. She would kill Jonuta, who was not. 39 For a year
now she had considered herself as being on a quest. In quest of Qalara. And
still I cannot rush there, to find and confront and slay Jonuta! Instead, she
must go to Thebanis. To go to Thebanis she must avoid one of the largest
collapstars-a dead star or "black hole in space"-in the galaxy. The
Demonhole. It was an inconceivably huge magnet that once had been a star. Now
it lurked invisibly in space, emitting absolutely no light and doing its best
to suck in anything that passed. Should anything, whether a mote of
interstellar dust or a spaceborne pebble or stone or a ship or even a comet,
dare pass too close-the Demonhole succeeded. It made that object part of
itself and increased its own power by a tiny fraction. Its newly captured
component it tucked away out of sight, forever. For the gravity of any
collapstar was greater than the escape velocity even of light, and nothing
could be seen of the Demonhole or its prey beyond its suction perimeter, its
Blue Event Horizon. Not until spacer Satana had pursued a course- "swerved"-
to avoid that horrid lurking eater of matter and energy could the ship and all
onboard be converted to the faster-than-light particles called tachyons. Only
after Satana avoided becoming a part of the Demonhole could it defeat Einstein
and jump in close to the Janski system and Thebanis. Janja wanted to go to
Qalara; was compelled to go to Qalara. And first she had to go to
Thebanis. Qalara* was still months away. But I am on my way, Janja thought,
and her teeth were compressed with purpose. A small blond, paler than any
Galactic, slave no longer and full of purpose and confi- *No letter exists to
represent the soft-k sound of Qalara's first letter, in the alphabet of Erts.
The easiest course is to think Khalara and say "Kuh-LAIR-uh." 40 dence and the
ancient desire for what she considered justice: revenge. For this is my ship
now, and soon, oh soon on Thebanis I will trade it for a better one! And then
. . . outbound, outbound to Qalara and Jonuta!-as Captain Janjaglaya, by Aglii
and Sunmother! She rose then from the superb "Spacefarers' Aide" on Soljer,
docking station of planet Jorinne, and hurried to where the ship-her ship,
Satana-awaited. Captain Janja, on her way. Graborn and Laleemis were gone,
down onto Jorinne with Mehdi-daktari for tests and learning and, the "Satana
Coalition" hoped, happiness. Hellfire, Cinnabar, and Quindy were onboard and
waiting. Quindy lounged at con with seeming calm and patience, a jet black
woman with hair the color of sunflowers (both colors by choice) who wore an
extremely revealing, extremely pale blue bandeau-with-cutouts above and a pair
of pale, hotly pink pants below. Soon after Janja was onboard, here came their