"Robert L. Forward - Rocheworld 02 - Return to Rocheworld" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forward Robert L)

a few lucky members of the crew.
Nels ignored Cinnamon's singing. He had long ago gotten used to her
habit of dredging up obsolete songs to while the time away. Nels did not
intend to let another chance to study the strange new alien life form slip by.
True, the main reason that he had been included on the mission was to provide
the crew with nutritious, appetizing food for their one way mission to the
stars. But no one had really expected that they would discover intelligent
life! Surely no one on board knew more about genetics and life on a
microscopic level than he did. He intended to ask the commander, Major General
"Jinjur" Jones, to allow him to go to the surface of Eau during their return
visit to Rocheworld. Unfortunately, the stocky black woman was first and
foremost a Marine, and Nels had felt from her the same contempt for deformity
that so many of the very physically fit seemed to have. It was as if she
thought that he could have developed proper legs if only he had shown more
discipline. He knew that it would take some persuasion before Jinjur would
allow her intellect to overpower her prejudice.
Nels left Cinnamon on the hydroponics deck and dove down the
sailcraft's long central shaft toward the galley. To gain speed in the nearly
free-fall environment, he used the handholds on the side of the shaft to pull
himself along with his long, muscular arms. Broad shouldered and burly, Nels
would have been a tall man, had his legs not ended as soon as they had begun.
Just below his hips, Nels had small flipper-like feet with long, nailess toes.
Constant exercise of the malformed digits made them strong, almost prehensile,
and he was able to use them to carry the special delicacies he had just
harvested. The heroes would be arriving soon and a party was in order.
Nels had cut ruthlessly into the tissue cultures "Chicken Little",
"Ferdinand", and "Hamlet" that supplied the real-meat chicken, beef, and pork
rations for the nineteen astronauts on _Prometheus_. He had also collected all
the fruits and vegetables that were ripe enough to harvest. There were fresh
strawberries, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, and mushroom buttons for crisp
finger foods, and spinach and endive for salad. These delicacies would
normally be used only to cut through the blandness of their standard
algae-paste food diet. Although the fast-growing algae food was nutritionally
adequate and consisted of many different varieties that were subtly flavored
to mimic a variety of foods, the algae was the butt of many crude jokes among




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the crew. To a man, they looked forward to their infrequent allotment of
"real" food.
Now, the rest of the crew that had stayed behind on _Prometheus_ had
gone without these special treats for days so that there would be plenty for
the welcome home party. Nels had even managed to procure some of Cinnamon's
jealously guarded fish roe, so he could make a caviar appetizer. All this was
in Nels's favor. He intended to have the General sated before he tackled her
about his being assigned to the landing party for the return to Rocheworld.
Once in the galley, Nels prepared the feast. Nels got special joy in
these last few moments of the foods' preparation. He had designed most of