"Gordon Dickson & Harry Harrision - Lifeship Lp Ebook Txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

"I am of the Steel sept. I go to space because this is what must be done. For the same reason I have learned your tongue. Please tell me what I need to know."

"My ship has been destroyed and I could not die with it. We will soon start and proceed to Belben."

"Belben?" echoed Giles. "Belben," repeated the Captain.

"But how long will the voyage take?"

"I do not yet know exactly. Possibly a hundred ship-days. This small engine lacks efficiency, therefore the Munghanf is unlucky enough to be with us."

"It is his sorrow. Is the cause of the accident known?"

"There was no accident. My ship was destroyed by a deliberately caused explosion."

For the first time the Captain showed some sign of emotion, her voice raised, her fingers shaking.

"Ifs not possible,'9 Giles began.

"There is no doubt. There were only empty cargo holds at the explosion site. Nor was there anything there that could burn. It would take nothing less than a fusion bomb to ignite the flooring, which burns only at the highest temperature."

Giles shifted his weight slightly on his feet.

"This is a grave charge," he said. "Why would anyone want to sabotage an Albenareth spacer?"

"That I do not know. But a crime has been committed." The dark alien eyes stared directly into Giles'. "A crime one of my race would not commit."

"There is no possibility the explosion was only an accident?" said Giles. "Your ship was old, Rayumung. Many of the ships of the Albenareth are very old."

"Their age is no matter. It was not an accident." The Captain's voice was unchanged, but her long, three-fingered hands were now tightly clenched—a sign of deep emotion in an Albenareth, as Giles remembered from his studies of the aliens. He

changed the subject-

"You said it would take possibly a hundred ship-days to reach Belben in this lifeship. Is there no destination closer?"

"Our destination was Belben. It is still Belben."

"Surely," said Giles, "it would be more sensible to go to the closest point where safe planetfall is possible?"

"I and my officers and my crew have fallen far back on the road to Perfection by permitting the loss of our ship." The dark eyes turned away from Giles, dismissing him. "My Engineer and I may not even permit ourselves the redemption of death. To fail to reach our planned destination means a further loss of honor, and that is unthinkable. Farewell, therefore. Our talk is ended."

Giles' temper twitched to life. He held it in check, and continued to talk in an even voice.

"I have not ended speaking, Rayumung," he said. The Captain turned her head back to face him.
The Captain stared at him a moment without speaking.

"Human," she said at last, "we permit you to travel aboard our holy ships into holy space because you have no ships of your own worth the counting, and because it is a step upon the Way to assist others, even though they are aliens who will never know the meaning of Perfection. Also the rewards you bring us for carrying you permit more of our people than otherwise could to be unbound from the worlds of their beginnings. But you are only that which we carry of our own choice. You will not speak to me of destinations."

Giles opened his mouth to answer, but the Captain's eyes had already looked past him, and she was talking again.

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