"Timothy Zahn - Spinneret" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

Spacecraft!

"I'll be damned," Hashimoto gasped.

Stewart found his tongue. "Shift, Bailey. To hell with alignmentтАФwe can get back
on course later."

"Wait a second," Hashimoto saidтАФbut with a flash the planet and moving stars
vanished. "Captain!"

"As you were, Mr. Hashimoto," Stewart snapped, leaning on the title to remind
the scientist of his temporary military position. "My orders are explicit on this
point: in case of contact with nonhumans, I am to run if at all possible."

"But an alien race." Hashimoto was clearly in no mood to back down. "Think of
the opportunities, theтАФ"



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Zahn, Timothy - Spinneret


"The Aurora is equipped for neither battle nor negotiation," Stewart interrupted
him. "The diplomats can follow us once we've made our report; I hardly think the
aliens will disappear in the next two months. I suggest you start analyzing the data
we picked up and see if you can figure out just how Earthlike that planet really
was. We'll want to know how interested the aliens are likely to be in our real
estate before we make contact again."

Hashimoto's glare slipped into a thoughtful grimace; nodding, he left the bridge.

Stewart turned back to the gentle light of the displays, silently mouthing a word
he'd once heard a Marine drill sergeant use. So life did exist out here тАж and if it
existed so close to Sol, it must be pretty common, to boot. Perhaps a whole
interstellar federation was sitting virtually on mankind's doorstep)тАФa cosmic club
whose members could finally give humanity the answers it so desperately needed.

It wasn't until much later that the other possible consequence of the "cosmic club"
occurred to him.

The hiss of the landing jets died into a ringing silence in Captain Lawrence
Radford's ears. Popping the release on his harness, he carefully rose to his feet,
feeling awkward after three weeks of the Pathfinder's zero-gee. "Start prelaunch
check," he ordered the shuttle's pilot. "And get the atmosphere tester going, too."

"Yes, sir."

Stepping around his chair, Radford made his way to the airlock door, where the
rest of the landing party was assembling. "Looks beautiful, Captain," Lieutenant