"Andrew J. Offutt - Spaceways 17 - The Carnadyne Horde" - читать интересную книгу автора (Offutt Andrew J)

in Jonuta's beloved ship, Golden Apple shot past the hot glowing edges of the
vaporized hatch and blasted away from Coronet and Jasbir-station. Jonuta stood
at the con, trembling in rage, ready to fire up DS. He hesitated. To harm the
lander would be to harm the Akil. He couldn't do it. Telling himself it was
because of the stell-value of the alien, he banged a fist down on the padded
edge of the console and attacked the floating comm-mike with his voice. "Sak!
Vark! Get to the starboard lander and follow them. My bet is the bastard plans
to drop down to the other side of the planet. Move move!" 3 Galactic
population being what it is, it is safe to state that there are now ten
suckers born every second! -Ancient Outreacher Proverb Eks's ingrav lander,
Golden Apple, was neither golden, nor apple-shaped. Its sleek, aerodynamic
lines and coat of black, non-reflective pigment added to its speed and
anonymity. Several modifications and additions of Eks's own design rendered
the ship invisible to nearly all forms of detection. Onplanet or in space. The
lander's stubby wings bit air and caught on. He angled the dive steeply, using
friction and retros to decelerate at a bone-grinding rate. "That ought to lose
those dragass flainers!" He ordered SIPACUM to pull out of the dive at one
klom altitude and coordinate a landing at the city of Caraphyl. He turned to
the Akil. "Don't worry about a thing. I have friends in the city and we'll be
off this dirtball in no time." The Akil stared inquiringly. His fingers tapped
with impatience against the chair-arm. "And I'll fix you up so we can talk
after we get a ship out of here." He glanced over at a bare spot on the
alien's wrist. "Those scratch tests seem positive. You won't be allergic to a
brainboost." He cleared a landing pattern with Caraphyl StarHarbor 27 28 and
entered a final approach pattern. The river-delta city spread out before them.
Silver and gold spires of glittering crysplas shot up from banks (preserved in
their natural, muddy condition). Elevated slideways connected the buildings
and surrounding areas. "And if we're lucky, we'll avoid the piss-petty burok
that runs this planet." Finding a freighter making the "short" hop from Jasbir
to Suzi was simple. The run was a common one. Convincing the captain to make a
stop at planet Sekhar proved to be more difficult. After the third try, Eks
found hope with the fourth. "Ya say yer want me to haul you and yer lander to
Sekhar. That's it?" Eks nodded. "Isn't this a lot of cred to be paying for a
little dogleg like that?" Eks fingerflipped. "I despise haggling." "Yer little
jacko there coming too?" Captain Saliandor da'Shiva looked down at the figure
dressed in a garish tourmaline-green and interplanetary-orange keemo. It
leaned against Eks, hanging its head low beneath a floppy crimson
turban. "Firm. Absolutely. Shipmate. My buddy!" "Who's 'e?" "Who, he?" Eks
pulled the Akil closer so that the alien appeared to stumble. "He's, uh,
drunk. Pos-can't even keep his head up. He'll spend the trip in my lander.
Drying out. Don't worry about us. The boat's completely
self-contained." Captain Saliandor da'Shiva nodded his mahogny head and
wordlessly accepted the stells Eks offered. 29 Eks found no trace of Eris
around Sekhar. He suspected that his brother Denverdarian had been murdered
there by agents (he assumed) of TransGalactic Order. He knew better than to
nose around too boldly. One sweep of the planet with receptors scanning a
special scrambled-and-digitally-encrypted wavelength confirmed what he'd
already suspected. Geb Mardurki had taken his ship away from Sekhar,
undoubtedly to Arepien. Convincing Captain da'Shiva to detour to the far side
of the Corsi Cluster required more than a few stells. Eks spent a good portion