"Bud Sparhawk - Primrose and Thorn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sparhawk Bud)

Rams usually got the best return when he had to make a darting emergency run from station to hub and
back. Double charges both ways, and no hassle for it, either! Best of all, the fees kept him out of prison.
"Wind one-thirty meters per second and rising, Cap'n. Satellite shows some deep turbulence spinning off
the edge about twelve thousand klicks upwind and heading to intercept your destination. Weather
advises you should try to stay within the central laminar flows of sub-bands MM and KK until you're
almost to Charlie Sierra One. That should keep you out of the storm," the station master said.

"Put it down that I acknowledge the limits on bands MM and KK," Rams replied as the 'master logged
his ship out. "How much margin does Weather give me before that storm hits?"

"Best they can project is that you have about a sixteen-hour margin, give or take six hours. Of course, if it
swings south of CS-42 the edge winds might give you a lift."

"When did I ever see one of those storms change course in a way that would help me?" Rams asked
rhetorically. "I'll plan on beating the weather the last leg of the trip. I just hope that Weather's prediction is
right."

"I agree with that," the 'master replied. "You'd better keep a watch for any miners who might be
prospecting on the periphery of the storm.

Wouldn't want to run into one of those crazies, would you?"

Rams grinned, remembering when he had been one of those crazies. "I'll watch out for them," he
promised.

"Well, it looks like you are all set to go, Primrose," the station master said as he popped the record from
the computer and handed it to Rams. "Fair winds and good passage, Cap'n."



Rams checked the ballast tank when he returned to the ship. According to the leveling mark on the wall
of Primrose's berth, she was riding lowтАФjust a little too heavy probably from the extra cargo he'd taken
on. He switched on the heaters in the ballast tank. That would create enough steam pressure to drive the
excess ballast out, lightening the ship. When Primrose's bull's-eye was almost up to the mark, he turned
the heater off. In a few moments more she was floating level with the station.

"Ready to cast off!" Rams said over the intercom. He listened for the 'master to loose the clamps that
held Primrose in the station's embrace. Four loud bangs resounded through the pressure hull as the
clamps released. Rams immediately felt the ship list to starboard as she drifted backwards into the fierce
winds of Jupiter.

Primrose heeled as it caught the full force of the wind. Rams braced himself, checked the instruments,
and then turned the ship downwind as it emerged from the lee of the station,

The station's infrared image quickly faded as they exceeded the viewer's range. A few seconds later the
sonar return vanished as well. Only a fuzzy radar image, quickly dissolving into a cloud of electronic
noise, told him where the station rode. Even that image would fade once he got more than a kilometer
away. After that he'd be sailing blind.

Primrose ran with the wind as he lowered the keel. He pointedly ignored the keelmeter as the diamond