"R. Garcia Y Robertson - Oxygen Rising" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robertson R Garcia Y)

Derek had nothing to say. He would have gladly left all this to Leo's light battalion, but maybe he was too
used to bioconstructs doing his dirty work. SuperChimps to do the heavy lifting. Leo for the dangerous
stuff. Bugs to take out the toxic waste. Dear sweet Mia to make his meals and share his bed.

"This is all so easy for youтАФisn't it?" Tammy asked. "Having the moral high ground, while we ordinary
humans do the suffering."

"Not really," Derek told her, having seen far more grief and mayhem than he had ever imaginedтАФnone of
it of his making, but folks still expected him to do something about it. "It's damned hard on me at times."

"Me too," Tammy agreed, handing him his sleep grenade, at the same time giving his hand a warm
squeeze. "Back in Pender's bunker, you were so anxious to know who I was, and how you could help
me. Well, this is who I am, and now is when I need you."

Well said. He took the grenade and the squeeze, noting Tammy was wearing his hypo-rings. By now, he
knew that there were reasons why negotiators did not consort with the enemy, not if they meant to
remain neutral.

Derek followed Tammy out of the cell and into the Skylark's lounge, which was no longer atop a desert
mesa, showing a seascape instead. The tug's crew was coming aboard, looking more like tired mariners
emerging from the sea than vacuum hands coming out of hiding. Two large armed men in militia uniforms
waited by the lock to escort them onto the tug. Feeling their gaze on him, Derek realized that Tammy had
them perfectly fooled. They were all set to leap to her aid, while she walked stinger on hip into the tug,
planning to betray them. Having been there himself, Derek could sympathize with their upcoming surprise.

Inside the lock, the ocean motif was replaced by the standard ship's airlock. As soon as the lock closed,
and started to cycle, Tammy opened an emergency kit on the wall and took out two oxygen masks,
putting one on and handing Derek the other. He put on the mask and set off his sleep grenade. One
shocked militiaman reached out to stop him, but Tammy seized his wrist, triggering her hypo-ring. He
joined his sleeping companion on the deck.

When the lock opened, the two of them stepped into the deserted tug. Decoupling the lock manually,
Derek dashed to the command couch. Without bothering to buckle himself in, he slammed the drive into
full acceleration, shooting sunward, and, at the same time, rotating the whole rock to port. Fields could
not fully compensate, and Derek had to cling to the couch with one hand, while snagging Tammy with the
other, keeping her from tumbling into the controls.

Hanging onto Tammy, he stopped the roll at 180 degrees, so that the mass of the asteroid was between
them and the Skylark as they dropped toward the inner system. Fields stabilized, returning cabin gravity
to 1-g, and Tammy landed in his lap.

He looked down at her, and she looked up at him. Suddenly they were safe, and alone. No armed
Humanist militia. No Leo and his light battalion. Just the two of them, safe, secure, and together, with two
hundred klicks of rock and iron between them and the men Tammy had so neatly betrayed. Tammy sat
up in his lap and kissed him, a long lingering kiss that showed that she had been waiting for it almost as
long as he had. Her mouth felt cool and exciting, not as delicate as Mia's, or as eager to please, but with
a wild willfulness that Derek had never tasted before. Their lips parted, and Tammy smiled, asking him,
"Was that as good as a Greenie?"