"Zach Hughes - Mother Lode" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hughes Zach)

prevailed in U.P. society, allowing the mutants from Old Earth to be
valued and welcome members of the race.

But the fossil skull that grinned at her, all teeth intact, eye sockets black
and empty, was not that of some mutated form or of some alien. Her
knowledge was limited. She was not an expert in the field, but she'd looked
at pictures just minutes before exiting the ship and the images were fresh
in her mind. This fellow had been the guy next door. He was man. Modern
man. And that was very damned interesting since, if she remembered
correctly, it took a few million years to turn living bone into stone.

She used the mining laser to check the area where the skull had spent
an eon in sleep. She melted out a lightning bolt of pure gold and held it in
her hand, but there was no sign of other fossilized bones. Mother spoke to
her. The husky voice of the computer said, "You have been extravehicular
for one hour and twenty-eight minutes."

No problem. She had four hours worth of air and a ten minute reserve.
She melted out another small vein of gold, put it into her specimen pouch,
examined the rock near the trench, said, "Well, to hell with it."

The suit's coolers sizzled into action as she stepped back into the light.
She looked up and around. The skull in the pouch on the outside of the
flexsuit pressed against her thigh as if reminding her that once it had
housed the soft, mysterious things that made up an intelligent brain. The
stars pushed down, dazzling her eyes. The tumbling rocks of the asteroid
belt seemed to be moving toward her. She ran in pure panic, clambered
up the steps, mispunched the combination to the lock, screamed out good,
solid, spacer profanity that had originated in the less desirable areas of a
score of planets. Her frantic eyes looked up, saw Mop sitting on the little
ledge of the control room viewport, his mouth open, his tongue hanging
out.

"Hi," she said, calming enough to punch the right combination into the
lock.

The outer hatch closed with an unheard but felt clang. Air hissed into
the lock. The inner door opened and she peeled out of the suit, first
removing the two samples of gold and the skull from the outside pouches.

"Well, my friend," she said, holding the skull in both hands, for it was,
after all, heavy stone. "I can't say I care too much for the garden spot
where you decided to spend eternity."

She was just a little bit ashamed of herself. Mop greeted her as if she'd
been gone for ages, leaping, making mock attacks, hoisting his rear and
lowering his head between his front paws in his
"look-at-me-I'm-charming" pose. She ruffled his soft hair, picked him up.
He threw himself over onto his back in the crook of her arm with a gusty
sigh and allowed her to rub his chest and belly. When he had had enough