"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 01 - The Winds of Gath" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

"Big money," said Dumarest. The only way to break the
Captain's Bond was to buy off anyone who could claim prior
right. "Didn't she have a ship of her own?"

"She did." Benson rejoined Dumarest. "I heard one of our
engineers talking and he said that their drive was on the blink.
Anyway, the Old Man took the charter and we left right away."

Dumarest nodded, taking his time over the second pint. A
spaceman could live on four ounces of basic a day and he was
beginning to feel bloated. Benson sat close, his eyes on the big
man's face. He seemed eager to talk, to break the silence normal
to his part of the ship. Dumarest humored him.

"A matriarch, eh? Plenty of women to liven things up."

"They're traveling High," said Benson. "All but the guards,
and they don't want to play." He hunched even closer. "What's it
like being a traveler? I mean, what do you get out of it?"

His eyes were curious and something else. Dumarest had seen
it so often before, the look of the stay-put to the mover-on. They
all had it and the envy would grow. Then, as the prison of their
ship began to close in, that envy would sour into hate. That's
when a wise traveler waited for another ship.

"It's a way of life," said Dumarest. "Some like it, some don't. I
do."

"How do you go about it? What do you do between trips?"

"Look around, get a job, build another stake for passage to
somewhere else." Dumarest finished the basic and set down the
empty cup. "Broome is a busy world. I won't have too much
trouble finding a ship heading for somewhere I haven't yet seen."
He caught the handler's expression. "We're going to Broome?
The place you told me was the next port of call?"

"No." Benson retreated a little. Dumarest caught his arm.

"I booked for Broome," he said coldly. His hand tightened.
The handler winced. "Did you lie?"

"No!" Benson had courage. "You booked the usual," he said.
"A passage to the next port of call. I thought it was Broome. It
was Broome until we got that charter."

"And now?"