"Jerry Pournelle - High Justice" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pournelle Jerry)

it. Moments later a dozen followed. Adams heard a scuffling sound, a noise as loud to him as
Cerebrus's engines had been, then silence. A few moments later grinning bronze faces peered over
the bulwarks.
"They'll have headaches in the morning. What do we do with them?"
"Set the lot of them adrift in the canoe. Only anchor it so they won't get lost," Adams said.
Despite his seasickness there was a wave of triumph swelling over him.
Toki nodded. "Ready to be cut loose?"


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"I think so. Give us a couple of minutes, eh?" Martinez was already below in the engine rooms with
technicians. It would be an hour before he could safely start the reactors but the ship's
emergency batteries would take them out of harbor. Adams and a company sailing officer went to the
bridge.
"Everything looks good sir," the mate said. "Plenty of juice. I think we can put out."
"Do it." As Persephone moved silently out of the harbor and into the storm Adams grinned despite
the violent motion. He was miserable, and when it was safe he'd lose his dinner, but he had the
ship. And that's half the problem, he thought.

The fiberglass lanai set on top of the Station blockhouse seemed like home after the wild ride.
Persephone had met Cerebrus after the storm blew itself out and a regular crew took over. Bill and
the Tongans returned to Ta'avu Station while the big white ship raced out to open water escorted
by the plane. She wouldn't be taken again.
Adams carefully squared the stack of papers on the table and placed them in the briefcase. He
fussed with their order, being sure that he knew where each was so that he could get what he
wanted without hunting and without opening the case wide. As he finished, Courtney came in.
"The prince and his councillors are in the conference room," she said. "They're ready."
"Thanks."
"That was-well, congratulations," she said. She wanted to say more, but he had that preoccupied
look again. She wished he would notice her, but now she understood. There was something else, and
after that there would be another problem. There would always be another problem for a man like
Bill Adams.
"What's that you're carrying?" Bill asked.
"Oh-one of Mike King's books. He loaned it to me." She held out Bernstein's classic Transportation
Economics. "I thought I ought to study something besides Station ecology."
"Yeah. Keep reading things like that and . . . Look, after this is over we'll see about that
transfer you requested. Do you like to travel?"
"Yes-"
"I'm leaving Mike here when I go back to Santa Barbara. Can you type?"
"Damn you!" she shouted.
Adams shrugged. "I can. Bit hard to communicate with the computers if you can't. Can you type?"
"Yes, but I'm not a secretary!"
"Don't need another one. They already gave me four," Adams said. "If you can get over being touchy
about being able to type, maybe we can work something out. Just now I've got a conference."
They went toward the meeting room. One of the Tongans came up and shouted to Courtney. She
answered in Tongan, then excused herself and ran off.
Prince Toki and his two councillors were seated at the conference table. They stayed there as Bill
came in, and he remembered that to stand in the presence of nobility without being asked was