"Murray Leinster - Checkpoint Lambda" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

arrived there, there was no trouble with the Five Comets. Recent computations had said there
could be trouble. Then he was to see that its incredibly valuable cargo was divided into shipments
of reasonable size and, in course of time, transferred to a series of other ships which would
deliver each fraction of the whole to a different colonized world. That was all. It was almost
commonplace. But passengers — including a girl — hadn't left the checkpoint when they should.
Freight had been refused. And strangest of all, a supposed Patrol officer had sworn at the skipper
of a merchant ship and ordered him to go on.
There should be no weapons on Lambda to back up a threat. A Patrol officer shouldn't threaten,
anyhow. He was violating all discipline if he used profanity or made threats of any kind to a civilian.
The officer who'd sworn at a liner-skipper didn't sound like a Patrol officer.
Scott very grimly decided that he wasn't.
The Golconda Ship would be the answer. Its fabulous riches and impenetrable mystery made it the
subject of feverish speculation over half the occupied galaxy. Four ships in turn had made voyages to
an unknown destination and returned. A fifth was somewhere out in space now. The first had
appeared from nowhere years ago, with a cargo of treasure that still seemed unbelievable. There'd
been fighting on board, and the first Golconda Ship's crew was smaller than even a small space tramp
should carry. Apparently they'd killed each other off and were down to a skeleton crew which brought
the ship to port. But they kept their lips tight-locked. They had treasure of greater value than any ship
on any space-voyage or any sea had ever brought to port before. But nothing criminal could be
proved against them. Nothing of any use could be learned from them. Ultimately they scattered, every
man a multi-millionaire, and the secret of where they'd obtained their treasure still intact.
Four years later the same men gathered again. They had another ship built. It was a very special ship
indeed. They went aboard and out to sapce. Nobody knew where they went. They were gone six
standard months. They came to port again with even more treasure than before. Again they kept their
mouths shut. Once more they scattered, and every man was a multi-multi-millionaire. The second
Golconda Ship had brought back more wealth than most planetary treasuries contained. And nobody
knew where it was found or how it was gathered or even — actually —
how much there was of it. But the sudden excess of riches caused a financial crisis on the world
where they landed it.
A third Golconda Ship and a fourth had made voyages, each time with a crew whose every member
was so many times a millionaire that an estimate of his wealth was meaningless. Now a fifth
Golconda Ship was due, to make them richer still. But this time it would not make port where an
embarrassment of riches would cause a financial panic. It would land at Lambda.
And this was why a few non-transferring passengers and a threatening Patrol officer on Lambda made
Scott feel grim and savage and alost helpless as he watched the diners in this space liner's dining
saloon.
They were innocent bystanders. Their lives shouldn't be endangered. If this liner made freight or
passenger-transfer contact with Lambda, they would be in trouble — if things were as wrong as they
appeared. He, Scott, would have to arrange matters so that he took all the risks. And, acting alone, the
risk would be practically suicidal.
He was about to move away from the doorway when loudspeakers all over the ship blared,
chorus; "Attention all passengers! Attention all passengers! Breakout from overdrive coming!
Breakout from overdrive coming!"
There were unhappy sounds here and there. Overdrive was the only conceivable way by which space
traffic could be moved across light-centuries of space. But ways to mitigate the physical discomfort
of going into or out of it had not been developed successfully.
"This is a checkpoint breakout, at Checkpoint Lambda," the voice said cheerfully. "// you wish,
stewards will provide you with anti-malaise pills to reduce breakout discomfort. We are required
by law to report our passage past the checkpoints set up along the space lanes we follow. Usually
that is all that hap-