"James Patrick Kelly - Dividing the Sustain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kelly James Patrick)

realized then that he was having an unexpected reaction to the sprites. Adrenaline
skittered through him and brain cells that had too long been dormant began to fire.
He had to get in control of him-self. This might be his chance to talk to Harlen
Quellan. “Is the Captain here?” said Been.

When Emsley’s thinking head grimaced, it its face looked as if it were pressed
against a window. “Not yet,” said his talking head.

Been let Gala and Beth peel him away from Emsley. They wanted him to see
how Kastor maven Lodse could pull up real-time images of any single cargo
container on board and then inspect their contents virtually.

“So that means you can tell us what’s in any container?” Gala rested a hand
lightly on Lodse’s shoulder. “Say, for example”—she shot Been a mis-chievous
grin—“Y7R in cold locker three?”

Lodse gestured at the lightboard. It sang back to him and then a green Lifetec
container appeared on it. “Could.” He nodded at the lightboard. “But won’t. Not my
job. My job is getting stuff from here to there.”

“Please, Kastor. We’ve heard rumors that we’re carrying some revolution-ary
new seed stock that could save Little Chin.” Now Beth was testing Been to see if he
would react.

Been thought he could see malice curling off her smile like smoke. “We’re
planting seed, Beth, not rumors.”

“You won’t talk to us, Been Watanabe, so now we’re not talking to you.”
Gala closed her hand on Lodse’s shoulder. “What about it, Kastor? Aren’t you
interested?”

“Not really.” Lodse waved at the lightboard and it went back to the de-fault
overview of the CargoCore. “To us, cargo is nothing but bins, barrels, and bulbs.
Some of them have to be kept warm, some cold. Some of them need to breathe,
others want to be airtight. All we care about is whether someone is coming to sign
for them at the end of the run.”

More people arrived at the party and then Gala and Beth were gone and a
drunken Henk Krall was leaning against him so hard that Been had to brace himself
to keep from pitching backward. At first, Been thought Henk might be flirting with
him, but then the conversation turned rancid.

“I’m sorry to say, Been, that there have been some who question whether you
are truly committed to Consensualism.” Henk’s voice slurred and he added a couple
of unnecessary syllables to “Consensualism.” “I intend to bring this problem to Lars
Benzonia once we make planetfall. You are a serious disappointment.”

Been looked to Dizzy to pull her drunken husband off him, but she just shook
her head. “Henk, I’m wondering if Been’s personality dampening might not have
been completely effective,” she said. “Do you think that’s possible, Been dear?