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Crashlander :: Нивен Ларри
Страница: 29 из 199«Long Shot calling General Products, Long Shot calling —»
«Beowulf Shaeffer?»
«Have I ever told you what a lovely, sexy voice you have?»
«No. Is everything going welI?»
«I'm afraid not. In fact, I'm not going to make it.»
A pause. «Why not?»
«I can't keep dodging these stars forever. One of them's going to get me if I keep on much longer. The ship's just too goddamn fast.»
«Yes. We must design a slower ship.»
«I hate to give up that good pay, but my eyes feel like peeled onions. I ache all over. I'm turning back.»
«Shall I play your contract for you?»
«No. Why?»
«Your only legal reason for returning is a mechanical failure. Otherwise you forfeit twice your pay.»
I said, «Mechanical failure?» There was a toolbox somewhere in the ship, with a harnmer in it …
«I did not mention it before, since it did not seem polite, but two of the cameras are in the lifesystem. We had thought to use films of you for purposes of publicity, but —»
«I see. Tell me one thing, just one thing. When the regional president of We Made It sent you my name, did he mention that I'd discovered your planet has no moon?»
«Yes, he did mention that matter. You accepted one million stars for your silence. He naturally has a recording of the bargain.»
«I see.» So that's why they'd picked Beowulf Shaeffer, well-known author. «The trip'll take longer than I thought.»
«You must pay a penalty for every extra day over four months. Two thousand stars per day late.»
«Your voice has acquired an unpleasant grating sound. Good-bye.»
* * *
I went on in. Every hour I shifted to normal space for a ten-minute coffee break. I dropped out for meals, and I dropped out for sleep. Twelve hours per ship's day I spent traveling, and twelve trying to recover. It was a losing battle.
By the end of day two I knew I wasn't going to make the four-month limit. I might do it in six months, forfeiting one hundred and twenty thousand stars, leaving me almost where I started. Serve me right for trusting a puppeteer!
Stars were all around me, shining through the floor and between the banked instruments. I sucked coffee, trying not to think. The Milky Way shone ghostly pale between my feet. The stars were thick now; they'd get thicker as I approached the Core, until finally one got me.
An idea! And about time, too.
The golden voice answered immediately. «Beowulf Shaeffer?»
«There's nobody else here, honey. Look, I've thought of something.