"Rocklynne, Ross - Time Wants a Skeleton" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rocklynne Ross)

Masters awoke. He rolled over. He saw Tony, and went rigid. He came to his feet, and huddled back against the wall.
"Get out," he gasped, making a violent motion with his hand.
"You're out of your head," said Tony angrily. "It was Yates."
Masters panted, "I know it was. What difference does it make? You're all in the same class. I'm going to watch myself after this. I'm going to keep my back turned the right way. I'm going to be sure that none of youЧ"
Tony put his hands on his hips, eyes narrowed.
"If you've got any sense, you'll try to forget this and act like a human being. Better to be dead than the kind of man you'll turn into."
"Get out. Get out!" Masters waved his hand again, shuddering.
Tony left, shaking his head slowly.

Tony stood outside the ship, smoking a cigarette. It was night. He heard a footstep behind him. He fell back a step, whirling.
"Nerves getting you, too?" Laurette Overland laughed shakily, a wool scarf blowing back in the heavy, unnatural wind.
Tony relaxed. "After two weeks of watching everybody watching everybody else, I guess so."
She shivered. He sensed it was not from the bite of the wind. "I suppose you mean Erie."
"Partly. Your father's up and around today, isn't he? He shouldn't have gotten up that night."
"He can get around all right."
"Maybe he better lock himself in his room." He smiled with little amusement. "The others are certain the ring will come back."
She was silent. Through the ominous gloom, lit now by a crescent planet that was visible as a small moon, and growing steadily larger, he saw a rueful, lopsided smile form on her face. Then it was gone.
She said, "Brie was telling me the jets are in bad condition. A trial blast blew out three more."
"That's what happened."
She went on: "He also told me there was a definite maximum weight the jets could lift in order to get us free of the gravity. We'll have to throw out everything we don't need. Books, rugs, clothing, beds." She drew a deep breath. "And in the end, maybe a human being."
Tony's smile was frozen. "Then the prophecy would come true."
"Yes. It is a prophecy, isn't it?" She seemed childishly puzzled. She added, "And it looks like it has to come true. BecauseЧ Excuse me, lieutenant," she said hurriedly, and vanished toward the air lock.
Tony stared after her, his mind crawling with unpleasant thoughts. It was unbelievable, fantastic. So you couldn't outwit fate. The ship would have to be lightened. Guesswork might easily turn into conviction. There might be one human being too many.
Professor Overland came slowly from the air lock, wincing from the cold after his two weeks of confinement. His haggard eyes turned on Tony. He came forward, looking up at the growing planet of destruction.
"Brie has calculated three days, eight hours and a few minutes. But it's ample time, isn't it, lieutenant?"
"One jet will straighten out with some man-size labor. Then we can start unloading extra tonnage. Lots of it."
"Yes. Yes. I know." He cleared his throat. His eyes turned on Tony, filled with a peculiar kind of desperation. "Lieutenant," he said huskily, "there's something I have to tell you. The ring came back."
Tony's head jerked. "It came back?" he blurted.
"In a fish."
"Fish?"
Overland ran a trembling hand across his brow. "Yesterday a week ago, Laurette served fried fish. She used an old dress for a net. I found the ring in what she brought to my room. Well, I'm not superstitious about the ring. One of us is the skeletonЧup there. We can't avoid it. I put the ring onЧmore bravado than anything else. But this morning"Чhis voice sank to a whisperЧ"the ring was gone. Now I'm becoming superstitious, unscientifically so. Laurette is the only one who couldЧor wouldЧhave taken it. The others would have been glad it was on my finger rather than theirs. Even Brie."
Tony stared through him. He was remembering Laurette's peculiar smile. Abruptly, he strode toward the ship, calling back hurriedly:
"Better go inside, sir."
In the ship, he knocked sharply on Laurette's door. She answered nervously, "Yes."
"May I come in?"
"No. No. Do you have to?"
He thought a moment, then opened the door and stepped inside. She was standing near her bed, her eyes haunted.
Tony extended a hand imperatively. "Give me the ring."
She said, her voice low, controlled, "Lieutenant, I'll keep the ring. You tell that to the others. Then there won't be any of this nervous tension and this murder plotting."
He said ominously, "You may wind up a skeleton." "You said the skeleton was not a woman."
"I was lying."
"You mean," she said, "it was a woman?"
Tony said patiently, "I mean that I don't know. I couldn't tell. Do I get the ring, or don't I?"
She drew a deep breath. "Not in the slightest can it decide who will eventually die."
Tony advanced a step. "Even your father doesn't believe that now," he grated.
She winced. "I'll keep the ring and stay in my room except when I cook. You can keep everybody out of the ship. Then there won't be anybody to harm me."
Footsteps sounded in the corridor. Masters entered the room. Tension had drawn hollow circles under eyes that refused to stay still.
"You," he said to Tony, his voice thin, wavering. He stood with his back to the wall. He wet his lips. "I was talking with your father."
"All right, all right," she said irritably. "I've got the ring, and I'm keeping it."
"No, you can't, Laurette. We're going to get rid of it, this time. The six of us are going to watch."