"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 04 - Kalin" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

of action and our troubles are over. The ship and all it contains
will be ours. Ours, Sara! Ours!"

His eyes glowed and she wished that she could share his
supreme confidence. And yet the plan made sense. To attack the
crew, drug them into insensibility, take over the vessel was,
basically, simple enough. Piracy, as a crime, was not unknown,
but to take over a vessel was not enough. The thing was to
dispose of it. Spacemen were clannish and united against all who
threatened their security. Even the cargo of a stolen ship would
be almost impossible to sell.

And yet Elmo claimed to have solved the problem.

It was possible he had, but his vagueness at times irritated
her to the point of rebellion. Then he would remind her of what
wealth could bring, but never could she forget the penalty of
failure.

"You know what will happen if they catch us," she said.
"Eviction into space with a suit and ten hours' air. Doped so that
a scratch will feel like the slash of a knife. Our senses sharpened
so that we'll scream our throats raw." Her hands clenched as she
thought about it, the brown spots on their backs standing ugly
against the skin. "Elmo! If they should catch us!"

"We'll die," he said. "A little before our time, perhaps, but
we'll die and that is all. A few years lost against what? But we
won't fail," he insisted. "I've been over this a thousand times.
First the steward and his hypogun. It'll be loaded with
quick-time. You take it and use it on the lower deck crew. I'll
tackle the officers, a shot of serpenhydrate and they will be
marionettes, helpless to do other than obey. They will alter
course, take the ship where we want it to go, land it as it needs to
be landed."

"And then?" She liked this part, liked to hear him say it again
and again as though, by repetition, hope could be turned into
fact.

"Money," he said thickly. "Enough to buy the new body you
desire. Enough for me to hire an army and win a principality, a
planet, an empire! The galaxy, Sara! Ours for the taking!"

Simple, she thought. So very simple. Too simple. Surely,
somewhere, there must be a catch?

Then she caught sight of her face in the mirror and longing
overwhelmed her doubts.
 ***