"Gordon R. Dickson - The Lifeship" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

The male arbite turned without a word and obeyed, respond-
ing instinctively to the note of command he would have heard from
Adelbom all the days of his life. He was a short, round-headed,
stocky man in early middle age. For a second, before following.
Giles glanced curiously at the girl arbite. She was small, as all
those of the lower class were, but good-looking for an arbite.
Under her light-brown, close-cropped hair, her pale, narrow face
was composed and unafraid. No doubt some high-caste blood in
her ancestry somewhere, Giles thought.

"Good girl," he said more gently. "You follow me, now.
Hang on to my jacket if the smoke gets too thick to see."

He patted her on the head before stepping out in front of her.
He had turned away and did not see the sudden wild flash of
indignation and anger that twisted her features as his hand touched
her head. But the look was gone almost as soon as it had ap-
peared. She followed him with the normal calmness of arbite ex-
pression on her face.
Giles reached out ahead to close his hand on the right shoul-
der of Groce. The man flinched at the touch.

"Steady, there!" snapped Giles. "All you have to do is obey.
Move, nowl"

"Yes, Honor," muttered Groce, doubtfully. But his shoulder
squared under Giles' fingers. His step became firmer, and he led
the way into the smoky corridor.

The smoke thickened. They all coughed. Giles felt the hand
of the girl, Mara, grope for the slack of his jacket in back and take
hold of it.

"Keep moving!" said Giles, between coughs. "It can't be
much further."

Suddenly they came up against a barrier.

"A door," said Groce.

"Open it. Go on through!" snapped Giles, impatiently. The ar-
bite obeyed-and suddenly they were all in a small area where the
smoke was less dense. Mara pushed closed behind them the door
by which they had just entered.

There was another door directly in front of them, also closed.
A heavy airlock door. Stepping past Groce, Giles pushed at it
without being able to open it, then pounded on its activating but-
ton with his fist. The door opened slowly, swinging inward, away