"Murray Leinster - Invaders of Space" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

stellar population of the galaxy wasn't only bright and shining suns, warning passing ships of
their existence and the planets and meteor streams that might circle them. There were dark
stars too, and unfortunately they were much more numerous than bright ones. There were
gravitational stresses, where space should be clear. There were dust clouds too small to be
detected until a ship was almost upon them. And there were streams of meteorites in motion -
it couldn't be said they were in orbit - between wholly separated suns.
So Horn worried. Ships did sometimes vanish in space as they did on planetary seas.
Gravitational stresses corresponded to ocean currents throwing well-found ships off course.
Minute dust clouds were like hidden rocks or shoals. And meteor streams were like icebergs or
derelicts floating awash, into which ships could crash to their destruction. There were still
definite dangers in between the stars. But disasters were rare. With surveyed ship lanes and
beacons marking them, with patrollings of even the best known for new dangers that might
develop, with elaborate systems of warnings to mariners of space - why travel between the stars
was no more dangerous than ocean voyages had been back in the days of sailing ships.
But that was enough to make Horn worry, with Ginny on the way to marry him. When he
thought of Ginny, his sensations were magnificent. So he worried, absurdly and to no purpose.
The grid operatorwas sitting upright now. A lot of the job of landing a ship was pure
routine, but a careless operator could do plenty of harm. This man, though, was skilled. He did
as little as possible, leaving all that he could to the grid itself. Still, there was a certain
necessary deftness in the way he let the self-operating devices do the routine part, while he took
over and with practised judgment did those parts that required a man's experience.
A great streak of light shot skyward. High, high up, there was a flicker of silvery reflection.
It came down and down, enlarged, became an object with the powerful light beam following it.
It was a ship. It landed. Then the blindingly bright lights dimmed and went out. The ship was
a small, squat, battered tramp ship of space, antiquated in design and firmly fixed upon its
landing fins.
An exit port opened. Three men came down the side ladder of the tramp. They reached the
tarmac and moved towards the control office. The spaceport light cast a peculiar yellowish
glow upon them.
"You're in for an argument," said Horn. "They're coming to insist on immediate repairs. It
sounded that way, anyhow."
"So what?" demanded the operator. "Those characters come in from space when it's noon,
ship time, but way before dawn at the spaceport here. If they have to wait, they have to wait!"
The three figures trudged towards the grid control office. The operator said, "One of 'em's
carrying a walkie-talkie. What's that for?"
"Privacy," said Horn. "Anybody could pick up a ship-to-ground conversation. Maybe this
skipper wants to have a very private chat with you. He may offer you a bribe."
The operator grunted. Again there was stillness all about the airport. Innumerable lights
shone unwinkingly, their colour and steadiness contrasting with even the brightest of twinkling
stars in the sky overhead. The operator and the guards at the spaceport gate would be the only
men on duty anywhere around. Horn was probably the only man inside the spaceport who
wasn't there on night watch. He'd stopped to make a necessarily futile query about the Danae,
because Ginny was aboard her. There was no visible movement anywhere except the three men
trudging across the glistening black tarmac in the yellow glow of the spaceport lights.
There was a clicking voice. A recorded voice said, "Log entry?"
The operator said, "Log note: space tramp Theban requested emergency landing; reason,
engine trouble. Engines apparently over-age and failing. Landed. That's all."
There was another click. The operator had proved himself awake on night watch and the
landing of the Theban was recorded, with the time. The time the Theban was aground would be
charged for, of course.