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

of a Sekhari week under a fake ID searching for a load of cargo that needed to
be hauled to Terasaki, Luhra, or Rahman. He found a silicon component exporter
with a shockingly expensive load of chips that needed to be offloaded at Luhra
ASAP. Captain da'Shiva happily agreed. "And anytime yer want a position as
 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html



ship's buyer," he told Eks, "I would be proud to have yer onboard!" "Passage
to Arepien will be sufficient." "It's Protected..." The captain's voice
betrayed hesitation. Eks smiled his best golly-grabbles smile. "You'll hardly
have to stop. Just give me enough time to redshift out of your lander bay and
you can keep going. I'm good at short farewells." He added a wider
smile. Da'Shiva considered the probable risk, considered the possible profit,
and smiled right back. "Enjoy the flight!" Eks powered Golden Apple out of the
airlock of Yetzirah and boosted toward one of the planets orbiting the binary
stars Alkoman A and B. He turned to check on Phoenix's condition. "You all
right?" The Akil wheezed and looked pathetically toward the
Mindrunner. 30 "Sorry. I thought you'd take to the brainboosts more
easily." He flipped a few switches that rendered Golden Apple invisible to
nearly every electromagnetic wavelength while at the same time beaming a
message toward the planet on his select frequency. "Feel sick," the Akil said
in soft, weak Erts. "It'll pass." Eks didn't bother scanning around the planet
for Eris-he knew that Geb and Ashtaru had the spacer powered down and so
completely shielded that it would be indistinguishable from an asteroid or any
other cold, dark chunk of nothing-in-particular. Marekallian Eks preferred
such anonymity. "Geb, you flainer!" Eks commed. "I know you're out there.
Better take the time to think up a good excuse for letting my brother get
himself killed and redshifting Sekhar-" "I didn't think you'd get halfway
across the Galaxy in a slipsucking lander, that's why!" The voice was an angry
tenor. "You think we didn't suspect you were dead when we couldn't find any
trace of you or your damned untrace-able boat?" "Shut up and stand by for
intercept. If you'd be so gracious as to give me a fix to home on." "Then
what? Back down to Arepien?" "We head for the Council Redoubt." "Fine by
me." A blip appeared on Golden Apple's computer simulation of Arepien. He
ordered SIPACUM to lock on to the comm-beam and plot an interception
course. Onboard Eris, Eks ushered the Akil out of the lander and into the
docking bay. Geb and Ashtaru-the only remaining members of the spacer's
less-than-skeleton crew- stood at the hatch, waiting. 31 Ashtaru towered over
Geb, though she stood only 155 sems,* with ebony black skin and hair dyed
(currently) a screaming electric blue highlighted with turquoise and lavender
streaks. She wore a lounger that matched the colors in top, belt, and
bottom. Geb barely topped her waist 100 sems off the deck. He glared up at
Marekallian Eks and nocked his fists against his hips. He was that rarity
along the spaceways-a genetic mistake, a sport left unconnected in utero by
impoverished parents. Geb Mardurki, midget, confronted his captain. "Where in
Theba's cold arms is the other lander?" Eks began. "Lining a crater in its
berth in Refuge. We had to sneak offplanet, thanks to Denvo's bungling. And if
you'd stayed put onplanet according to plan, we'd have found you without a
jinkle's effort. Stead, you somehow cross a few thousand parsecs without so