"Harry Harrison - Deathworld 2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

out, it was fast-working, and seemed to be oxidized just as quickly. The
headache faded to a dull throb, and he could open his eyes without feeling
that needles were being driven into them.

He was seated in a standard space-chair that had been equipped with
wrist and ankle locks, which were now well secured. A man sat in the chair
next to him, intent on the spaceship's controls; the ship was in flight and
well into space. The stranger was working the computer, cutting a tape to
control their flight in jump space.

Jason took the opportunity to study the man. He seemed to be a little
old for a policeman, though on second thought it was really hard to be sure of
his age. His hair was grey and cropped so short it was like a skullcap, but
the wrinkles in his leathery skin seemed to have been caused more by exposure
than by advanced years. Tall and firmly erect, he appeared underweight at
first glance, until Jason realized this effect was caused by the total absence
of any excess flesh. It was as though he had been cooked by the sun and
leached by the rain until only bone, tendon, and muscle were left. When he
moved his head the muscles stood out like cables under the skin of his neck
and his hands at the controls were like the browned talons of some bird. A
hard finger pressed the switch that activated the jump control, and he turned
away from the board to face Jason.

"I see you are awake. It was a mild gas. I did not enjoy using it, but
it was the safest way."

When he talked his jaw opened and shut with the no-nonsense seriousness
of a bank vault. His deepset, cold blue eyes stared fixedly from under thick
dark brows. There was not the slightest element of humor in his expression or
in his words.

"Not a very friendly thing to do," Jason said, while he quietly tested
the restraining bands. They were locked and tight. "If I had any idea that
your important personal message was going to be a dose of knockout gas I might
have thought twice about guiding you in for a landing."

'Deceit for the deceitful," the snapping-turtle mouth bit out. "Had
there been any other way to capture you, I would have used it. But considering
your reputation as a ruthless killer, and the undoubted fact that you have
friends on Pyrrus, I took you in the only manner possible."

"Very noble of you, I'm sure." Jason was getting angry at the other's
uncompromising self-righteousness. "The end justifies the means and all that-
not exactly an original argument. But I walked in with my eyes open and I'm
not complaining." Not much, he thought bitterly. The next best thing to
kicking this crumb around the block would be kicking himself for being so
stupid. "But if it's not asking too much, would you mind telling me who you
are and just why you have gone to all this trouble to obtain my undernourished
body."