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The Stars My Destination ( Tiger! Tiger! ) :: Bester Alfred
Страница: 73 из 164Joseph and his Scientific People were waiting for him, like fleas waiting for a wolf. They darted at him and he battered through them, harried, delighted, savage. The armor of his spacesuit protected him from their attacks and he went down the passages searching for a hatch that would lead out into the void.
Jisbella's voice came to him, tinny on the earphones and agitated: «Gully, can you hear me? This is Jiz. Gully, listen to me.»
«Go ahead.»
«Another ship came up two minutes ago. It's drifting on the other side of the asteroid.»
«What!»
«It's marked with yellow and black colors, like a hornet.»
«Dagenham's colors!»
«Then we've been followed.»
«What else? Dagenham's probably had a fix on me ever since we busted out of Gouffre Martel. I was a fool not to think of it. We've got to work fast, Jiz. Cork up in a suit and meet me aboard 'Nomad.' The purser's room. Go, girl.»
«But Gully . . .»
«Sign off. They may be monitoring our waveband. Go!»
He drove through the asteroid, reached a barrel hatch, broke through the guard before it, smashed it open and went into the void of the outer passages. The Scientific People were too desperate getting the hatch closed to stop him. But he knew they would follow him; they were raging.
He hauled the bulk of his equipment through twists and turns to the wreck of the «Nomad.» Jisbella was waiting for him in the purser's room. She made a move to turn on her micro-wave set and Foyle stopped her. He placed his helmet against hers and shouted: «No shortwave. They'll be monitoring and they'll locate us by D/F. You can hear me like this, can't you?»
She nodded.
«All right. We've got maybe an hour before Dagenham locates us. We've got maybe an hour before Joseph and his mob come after us. We're in a hell of a jam. We've got to work fast.»
She nodded again.
«No time to open the safe and transport the bullion.»
«If it's there.»
«Dagenham's here, isn't he? That's proof it's there. We'll have to cut the whole safe out of the 'Nomad' and get it into the Weekender. Then we blast.»
«But…”
«Just listen to me and do what I say. Go back to the Weekender. Empty it out. Jettison everything we don't need . . . all supplies except emergency rations.»
«Why?»
«Because I don't know how many tons this safe weighs, and the ship may not be able to handle it when we come back to gravity. We've got to make allowances in advance.