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

companion who was not quite part of the crew and yet who was friend and
advisor and savior and . . . definitely part of what they had dubbed the
Satana Coalition. Dashing Trafalgar Cuw, dashing now to join them, in his
rainbow clothing and big broad-brimmed hat. They zipped up the ship, breaking
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contact with Soljer-station's umbilical. Hellfire grinned. "Let's blow this
joint!" Cinnabar looked around all huge-eyed and pursed the lips of its small
roundish mouth. "The whole damned joint?" it asked with exaggerated interest,
and Hellfire swatted the Jarp. "The whole furbaggin' planet, by Shaitan's
balls!" Hellfire snapped. "Let's just get me to someplace where I can start
practicing being rich!" She clapped her hands together, a tall, angularly lean
woman with tan skin and hair the color of prass-by choice. "It will have to be
yours and Quindy's authority, Janja," 41 Trafalgar Cuw of Outreach said. He
gave Hellfire a big blandly innocent look-one of his best affectations.
Maddeningly, disgustingly boyish. "Cap-I mean Hellf, I regret to say that you
died, down on Jorinne." She stared at him. She was less volatile now than she
had been before some particularly unpleasant experiences,* but still a woman
who had been ship's master for several years, and a pirate besides. "I did
what?" He flipped his fingers. "You died. The pirate Hellfire is dead. We will
have a document recording her transferring ownership of her Satana to one
Janjaglaya Jee, of Outreach. Sorry, Janja-you had to be from somewhere, and
you don't have any official ID or numbers yet. We'll worry about your new ID
once we reach Thebanis, uh, whatever-your-name-is, ma'am." "Oh, Tra-Fal-garr!
And to think that I once hated your guts and called you Trafalgar Pew." He
shrugged. "Ah, that was only because I'm a man, bigot." The Satana Coalition
laughed, including the (former) captain. True, she no longer quite hated all
men, and Trafalgar was partly responsible, along with her experiences on Knor
and Jorinne. On the other hand, she was still strictly lesbian. Abruptly, as
she stared smiling at him, seemingly poised, Trafalgar raised both hands in a
fending-off gesture and backed a step. "No no, don't even think of hugging
me-people will talk!" "Oh God," Hellfire cried, and broke up again. "I think
I'm going to throw up," Quindy observed, in her quiet voice. "Not till we've
redshifted station Soljer and the whole *SPACEWAYS #4, Escape from Macho and
#8, Under Twin Suns. 42 Payne-Humason system, pleasel" Janja said, smiling.
Yes, she could smile and enjoy their camaraderie, she who had not laughed or
smiled for the better part of a year, and then only wanly, as if it were an
effort. "Trafalgar-you really did that?" He flipped five and tried to look
self-denigrating. "Oh, I had some help. We have a couple of friends or ten on
Jorinne, you know. It is officially registered, though. The wanted pirate
Captain Hellfire was slain on Jorinne- by other outlaws, not policers-and
transferred her ship, with witnesses, just before she died." He clapped a hand
over his heart and rolled his eyes upward. "Who-who were the witnesses?" "Oh,
no less than the renowned Caldera-clan Mehdidaktari, respected all along the
spaceways, and the Director of Station Soljer Security, Cosi-Prefect Cosi." He
rolled his eyes. They knew about his and Cosi's . . . coziness. "I'll be
damned," Hellfire said, shaking her head, leaning against the closed airlock
hatch and looking very serious. "Oh, without doubt," Cinnabar told her, and