"Mary Rosenblum - Breeze from the Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rosenblum Mary)

punch line. Stupid coming here tonight. Should have just gone to the dorm and to
bed. Oh, get it over with. He sighed. тАЬThat isnтАЩt one of the Zodiac signs,тАЭ he said.
тАЬIтАЩm a Sagittarius. As if it mattered.тАЭ
тАЬOh, itтАЩs a sign all right. And it matters.тАЭ The jock winked at him. тАЬTo
Delfinio at least. ThatтАЩs why he picked you. He has this thing about Ophiuchus and
people who are born in that sign. But look at it this way, Delfinio is Dispatch. The
crews on the platforms just play backup. YouтАЩre at the center of the universe, bro.
DelтАЩs got eyes all over his bod ... never misses a molecule.тАЭ Her eyes narrowed and
she looked past his shoulder. тАЬSpeak of the devil.тАЭ She chuckled, slapped him on
the shoulder so that he nearly flew out of the hammock seat. тАЬKeep your pants on,
honey.тАЭ And wove her way through the crowded bar with the gliding grace of a
native upsider who had never set foot on Earth.
He looked where she had looked, saw people in the bar move, give space, the
way you only saw it when someone big walked the hallways in the orbital platforms.
This little, skinny gnome with a naked skull, a micro-g body, and the big eyes and
narrow face that said he had some Gypsy genes in him walked into that space. The
Gypsies werenтАЩt quite human ... so the talk said ... and the look made him old,
because the Gypsies had left for the Oort in the Departure, years ago. He glided
through the empty, respectful space, ignoring the murmured greetings, came right up
to Jeri. Looked him straight in the face.
тАЬJeri Annunciato-Sontag?тАЭ His voice was high and reedy.
тАЬYeah.тАЭ Everyone was staring at them. тАЬThatтАЩs me.тАЭ
тАЬLetтАЩs go.тАЭ The gnome twitched one narrow shoulder. тАЬSave the cities the
cost of a shuttle lift out to your post tomorrow.тАЭ He looked at the empty beer bag in
JeriтАЩs hand. тАЬUnless you need to get drunker first?тАЭ
Jeri spotted the rock jock with the light tattoos grinning from the edge of the
crowd. Bowed in her direction. тАЬSure, Delfinio,тАЭ he said and sailed the empty beer
bag toward the bar. тАЬWhy not? LetтАЩs get to work.тАЭ
тАЬOh, too soon yet.тАЭ A wide grin stretched DelfinioтАЩs face. тАЬBut we can go
home now. Work when you know your butt from a black hole.тАЭ
Jeri followed him out of The Hole. He felt as if he pushed through an invisible
skin that sealed behind him, shutting him out of the warm, close world of Sanya,
Jorges, and the other jocks heтАЩd trained with. The rock jockтАФheтАЩd already forgotten
her nameтАФwinked. But she was on the other side of that skin, too. He didnтАЩt return
it.
****
Delfinio shuttled them over to Dispatch in a slightly larger version of a jock
pod, an egg with the spiderweb harness designed to keep you intact no matter what
your pod was doing. Jeri had already had the navigation-interface implanted, way
back when he passed into the program, so when Delfinio passworded them into the
system, the hull vanished and Jeri found himself floating in vacuum, facing the
blue-white disc of Earth. Even after all his training flights, the sight always brought a
rush of awe clear up from his toes to choke him for an instant. The slowly spinning
can that was Dragon Home caught the sunlight along the planetтАЩs far perimeter,
spangled with lights and buzzing with traffic. Not far from the orbital platform, the
gleaming ribbon of the Elevator shimmered like a silver thread rising up from the
planetтАЩs blue surface, the terminal like a jeweled bead at the end.
I was going to spend my life out here, Jeri thought and another wave of
resentment rolled through him. Now he was going to spend it inside a can, sending
his former buddies out to chase rocks and pirates. So what if Delfinio was the primo