"Chapter 02" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gordon Dickson - Forever Man)

Lela and the Fourth Helen. He knew their pilots and gunners


well. The Swallow and the Fourth Helen were ships from his
own command. They and the other two were good ships han-
dled by good people. The best.
Jim led the way aboard AndFriend and fitted himself into
the forward seat facing the controls. Through his suit's rece~
tors, he heard Mary sliding into the gunner's seat, behind and
to the left of him. Already, in spite of the efficiency of the
suit, he thought he could smell the faint, enclosed stink of his
own sweat; and, responding to the habit of many missions, his
brain began to clear and come alive. He plugged his suit into
the controls.
"Report," he said One by one, in order, the Sw~ the
Fair Maid, the Lela and the Fourth Helen replied. "-Trans-
mission Section," said Jim, "this is Wander Section, ready and
waiting for transmission."
"Acknowledged," replied the voice of the Transmission
Section. There followed a short wait, during which as always
Jim was conscious, as if through some extra sense, of the
many4ons weight of the collapsed magnesium alloy of the
ships' hulls bearing down on the specially reinforced concrete
of the takeoff area. "Ready to transmit."
"Acknowledged," said Jim.
"On the count of four, then," said Transmission Section's
calm, disembodied voice. "For Picket Nine, L Sector, Frontier
Area, transmission of Wander Section, five ships. Ready to
phase-shift. Counting now. ..... three ." The unimagin-
able tension that always preceded transmission from one es-
tablished point to another began to build, a gearing-up of
nerves that affected all the men on all the ships alike.
"Two The voice of Transmission Section seemed to
thunder at them along their overwrought nerves. "One..."
".....Transmit!"
Abruptly, a wave of disorientation and nausea broke
ough them, and was gone. They floated in dark and empty
interstellar space, with the stars of the Frontier area surround-
ing them, and a new voice spoke in their ear.
"Identify your'self," it said. "Identify yourself. This is For-
midable, command ship for Picket Nine Sector, requesting
identification."
"Wander Section. Five ships." Jim did not bother to look at
his instruments to find the space-floating sphere that was For
midable. It was out there somewhere, with twenty ships scat
tered around, up to five and a half light-years away, but all
zeroed in on this reception point where he and the other four
ships had emerged. Had Jim been a Laagi Wing or Picket
Commander, he would not have transmitted into this area with
~twenty ships-no, nor with twice that many. "Confirm trans-