"John E. Stith - Redshift Rendezvous" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stith John E)

isn't just because of him.It isn't, it isn't." Her words were muffled since she didn't face me as she spoke.

"Say,I've got an idea," I said,deciding that moving to this topic had been one of my bad ideas."I'm
starved.Let's go up to the galley and get a late-night snack.Layne Koffer fixes a terrific sweet-Java."

She shook her head just as I finished speaking.She edged closer to the drop to the deck.

"Wait just a minute." I said quickly."I almost forgot.A message came in for you over the network.It
wasтАФ" I never finished the lie I had started.Instead I ran.

I pushed against the wall behind me,and I accelerated as rapidly as I could move my body in the high
gravity.If I could have reached the speed of light instantly,Jenni would have had no warning that I was on
my way until I was already with her.As it was,outdistanced a couple of my words but still gave her a little
warning.

I ran straight along the row between crates,my view of Jenni shifting into blue and then violet as I ran fast
enough for Doppler shift to tint the world ahead.The view of stacked crates to either side of me
contracted.

Jenni must have seen my violet blur as I approached,because she pushed herself off the stack of crates,
tilting backward so she would land on her head.I was nearly too late.

As I ran,I held my arms outstretched.Catching her was awkward,even though

I tried to compensate for her extra weight on this level.Her body hit my arms at about the same instant
that the sonic boom I had generated sounded loudly in my ears.I thought at first I had her,but a second
later I dropped her after all.At least I had been able to slow her down and reorient her so her heels and
buttocks hit the deck simultaneously.I fell heavily to one side.

She had been yelling from the moment I first touched her."Get away from me.What are youтАФouch!"

Hitting the deck stopped the flow of words for only an instant; then the impact laced her words with pain
."You've got no right.Get away!"

Her remaining restraint broke and she began to pummel my chest with her fists.I grabbed for her wrists
to force her to stop.

Even up close the speed-of-light delay made it hard to anticipate Jenni's moves.My first attempts to
restrain her missed,but she knew what I was trying to do because she changed her tactics.She slapped
my face and a moment later I felt the wet result of four fingernails scratching deeply into my cheek.

Finally I got good grips on both of her wrists,which left only the possibility of being kicked or kneed.She
didn't waste any time.Fortunately she landed only two kicks before I was able to force her down against
the deck,straddle her,and pin her fists to the deck.

She lay on her back,breathing heavily,looking up at me because she had
 no choice.As my adrenaline level began its descent to normal,I looked back at her.What had appeared
from a distance to be a tan was instead closely spaced freckles."Damn you," she said slowly,vehemently.

Jenni was unmoving for a long moment as anger put creases between her eyebrows and anger burned in