"H. Beam Piper & J. J. McGuire - The Return" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

Illustrated by Kelly Freas




Altamont cast a quick, routine, glance at the instrument panels and then looked down through the
transparent nose of the helicopter at the yellow-brown river five hundred feet below. Next he scraped the
last morsel from his plate and ate it.

"What did you make this out of, Jim?" he asked. "I hope you kept notes, while you were concocting it.
It's good."

"The two smoked pork chops left over from yesterday evening," Loudons said, "and that bowl of rice
that's been taking up space in the refrigerator the last couple of days together with a little egg powder,
and some milk. I ground the chops up and mixed them with the rice and the other stuff. Then added some
bacon, to make grease to fry it in."

Altamont chuckled. That was Loudons, all right; he could take a few left-overs, mess them together, pop
them in the skillet, and have a meal that would turn the chef back at the Fort green with envy. He filled his
cup and offered the pot.

"Caffchoc?" he asked.

Loudons held his cup out to be filled, blew on it, sipped, and then hunted on the ledge under the desk for
the butt of the cigar he had half-smoked the evening before.

"Did you ever drink coffee, Monty?" the socio-psychologist asked, getting the cigar drawing to his taste.
"Coffee? No. I've read about it, of course. We'll have to organize an expedition to Brazil, some time, to
get seeds, and try raising some."

Loudons blew a smoke ring toward the rear of the cabin.

"A much overrated beverage," he replied. "We found some, once, when I was on that expedition into
Idaho, in what must have been the stockroom of a hotel. Vacuum-packed in moisture-proof containers,
and free from radioactivity. It wasn't nearly as good as caffchoc. But then, I suppose, a pre-bustup
coffee drinker couldn't stomach this stuff we're drinking." He looked forward, up the river they were
following. "Get anything on the radio?" he asked. "I noticed you took us up to about ten thousand, while I
was shaving."

Altamont got out his pipe and tobacco pouch, filling the former slowly and carefully.

"Not a whisper. I tried Colony Three, in the Ozarks, and I tried to call in that tribe of workers in
Louisiana; I couldn't get either."

"Maybe if we tried to get a little more power on the setтАФ"