"Steve Perry - Aliens 03 - The Female War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Steven)

here; it seemed like a good ideaтАФ everything was falling to shit down there. So I've only been here a
month longer than you have."

Billie nodded. "So what did the medics say about the missing part? Physical or psych damage?"

"I don't do medics," she said, smiling a little. "Besides, I feel fine."

Ripley stood and stretched her arms over her head. "Want to walk with me to dinner?"



Billie glanced curiously at the older woman as they headed toward the cafeteria. She was the first
survivor, so far as anyone knew, to have seen the aliens and gone back for more. Billie found herself
intrigued by Ripley's relaxed, confident demeanor, a calmness that seemed unlikely after all she must have
been through. Especially given her own experiences with the monsters. Even after only two weeks here, it
seemed like a million years had passed.

They walked down C-corridor toward the nearest dining hall. There was a viewing plate adjacent
to the hatchway that led them down another corridor; peering out the window was a young couple, both
medtechs by the look of their IDs, holding hands and talking quietly. Billie saw one whole stretch of the
station from her vantage point, long tubes set into spheres and cubes, assembled like a giant child's toy.
She shivered slightly from the cold as they neared the hatch. The station was made from heavy plastic
and cheap lunar metals; heat came from baseboard heaters set along each corridor, but the void outside
kept the corridors from ever really getting warm.

Apparently the newer modules were worse, exposed plastic beams and cramped quarters with
poor facilities and lights. They had been slapped together to field the incoming refugees from Earth, the
flood of people that had finally tapered to a trickle. Gateway Orbital Station now held somewhere
around 17,000, almost twice the number it had been intended forтАФbut it wouldn't need to hold many
more. As Ripley said, things were falling to shit down there.

Though it was early for dinner, the hall was crowded. There had been a midday shipment of real
vegetables from one of the hydroponic gardens, and word had spread fast.

Billie and Ripley both got small salads of carrot and lettuce to go with their meals. They sat at one
of the smaller tables near the entrance. In spite of the crowd, it was quiet; most of the people on
Gateway had lost friends and family to the aliens on Earth. It was almost like people were embarrassed
to laugh or have a good time. Billie could understand that.

She had spent much of her life in various psych wards, trying to convince medtechs that the aliens
existed; the solemn atmosphere of the station was familiar, if not comforting. She didn't feel particularly at
home here, but then she'd never really had a home. At least her life wasn't in danger; that was something.
After the trip with Wilks, being safe seemed almost like a dream.

Ripley ate a bite of her heated soypro and made a face. "Tastes like insulation that's been
dehydrated, frozen, and reheated. Then spit on."

Billie tasted her own, then nodded. "At least it's warm."

They ate quietly, each concentrating on her meal.