"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - The Room of Lost Souls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

chair on two legs does not satisfy me. The berthтАФwith its built-in desk, view
of the grow pods, and slide-out soft bedтАФno longer feels like home.

I need to move. I need to get out of here.

I need to spend the night on my ship.

****

By modern standards, NobodyтАЩs Business is a small ship, but by
mine, itтАЩs huge. The Business can fly with a single pilot, but itтАЩs designed
for twenty to fifty people.

When I was wreck diving, IтАЩd fly with ten or less and to me, that felt
crowded. IтАЩd close off the lower levels and lock up the cargo bays.

Sometimes I forget all the space IтАЩm not using. The main level has
the bridge and auxiliary controls. It also has the lounge, where IтАЩve put most
of my viewing technology so that I can review dives. There are six cabins
on this level as well, including mine.

The captainтАЩs cabin is two levels up. I never use it. My cabin is the
same size as all the others. It looks the same as well, except for the
hard-wired terminal that I use when I donтАЩt want anyone hacking into my
work.

Most (but not all) of the other systems on the Business are
networked, and IтАЩm up front with any crew that I hire that I watch the
systems diligently. If they put something on the system from a virus to a
piece of information, itтАЩs mine. IтАЩve learned a lot that way.

The Business is docked in the permanent section of the station. I pay
extra to keep her systems disconnected from the stationтАЩs systems. I also
bribe the officials to keep an eye on her, to make sure no one enters
illegally.

Even so, I still run several security programsтАФall of them redundant.
No one, not even the best hacker, can shut off all of them and still have time
to case my ship.

So as I enter the Business, I stand in the airlock and check the first
layer of security, seeing whoтАФif anyoneтАФhas crossed this threshold since
I last went through.

According to the programs, no one has.

I let myself in, breathing the stale air. I keep the environmental
systems on low when IтАЩm stationboundтАФno sense wasting the energy. I
power up, check more redundant security systems, and run a full diagnostic
which I network to my own internal computer.