"Harry Harrison - Planet Of No Return" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

All of the pleasure had gone out of the voyage for Lea and Brion. They
reexamined the record and listened to Hartig's voice over and over again, so
often that they had it memorized. Brion worked out in the ship's gymnasium,
unaware of the fact that

A Desperate Plan

37

his weight lifting and general stamina gave the instructor a definite feeling
of inferiority. Lea tried to rest and conserve herenergy. She did not know
what they would be facing on Selm-II, but the records had shown that it would
be dangerous beyond belief. The waiting became unbearable and it was almost a
relief to get the disembarkation notice. The Captain was not in sight when
they made the transfer to the Culrel command ship.

"What happens next?" Brion asked, as the three of them emerged from the drop
sphere inside the cavernous airlock of the ship.

"That is completely up to you,"Carver said. "It's your assignment. You're the
one in charge now."

"Where are we?"

"In orbit around Selm-II."

"I want to see it."

"There's an observation port in the lower lounge. This way. I'll have the
Project Commander meet us there."

It was a large ship—and a busy one. They passed machine shops and storage
bays, halted as robot-operated floater lifts drifted by carrying bulky loads.
There was no one else in the observation lounge when they reached it. They
stood on the transparent floor, looking down into space. The blue sphere of
the planet lay below, half in shadow, illuminated by the fierce glow of the
star, Selm, the sun to this solitary world. Brion stared at it with fierce
concentration.

"From here it looks like any other planet. What brought about all the interest
in it at this time?"

"It all began as a routine investigation—and that's really what it was at
first. A normal computer

38

PLANET Of NO RETURN

search through some pre-Breakup records had discovered a list of shipments to