"Lynn,.Elizabeth.-.Sardonyx.Net" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lynn Elizabeth A)

"There is a direct-line call for the commander of the Yago Net from a police officer by the name of Michel A-Rae."
"The -- " Jo was nodding.
"The very same."
Zed scowled. Every five years or so the Federation gave the job of head of drug control to someone else. This was the latest holder of the job. "What does he want?"
"I don't know," Jo said.
Zed stepped to the com-unit, touching a button to blank the distracting vision screen. He tried to recall what he knew of the man, but came up with nothing except the memory of a blurred image from a PIN transmission. None of A-Rae's predecessors had ever called the Net. "I'll take it."
Maybe, he thought, A-Rae was about to tell him where all the dorazine had gone. The compscreen image cleared. Zed felt Jo move to gaze over his shoulder. There was a soft whisper through the room as the pilots heard what was going on. Zed said to the image, "I'm Zed Yago, Net commander."
The man on the screen said, "I'm Michel A-Rae."
Zed thought, I know that voice. He replayed the sentence in his mind -- but nothing about it stood out, and even as he struggled to identify it, it lost its familiarity. A-Rae's face was unremarkable: he had the smooth brown complexion common to many Enchanteans. From the minute transmission lag, Zed knew his ship had to be quite close by. "Did you want to tell me something?" he said.
"Not precisely," A-Rae said. He stepped back, so that Zed saw him en-framed. His uniform was plain, black without trim, and he wore the silver insignia of his rank on his chest. Behind him shadows moved, his ship's crew and staff hovering at his elbows as Jo loomed at Zed's, not in focus and barely seen. "You do know who I am."
Does he think me a fool? Zed thought. "You are head of the drug detail of the police arm of the Federation of Living Worlds," he said.
A-Rae tucked his hands into his black hide belt. "With jurisdiction over all inter-sector transport and sale of prohibited drugs in the galaxy."
Zed said, "The Yago Net respects the directive of the Federation. The Yago Net transports dorazine to the prisons of Sector Sardonyx, and nowhere else." By now he was sure he did not know A-Rae. Beside him, Jo was scowling.
"I know that, Commander," A-Rae said. "But let's not play with each other, if you please. Family Yago does not produce dorazine on Chabad, or even elsewhere in the sector. The Yago Net obtains dorazine from its dealers, and they from runners, and the runners get it from The Pharmacy, being thus linked in a vicious and illegal chain." His voice acquired a fanatic's ring. "As you must be aware, my people are watching the spacelanes for known runners. I persuaded the Federation to increase my staff, and it has done so. We intend to break that chain, Commander. I doubt that those who profit off such evils as drugs and slaves will be able to stop us."
Zed said, "I think you mean me. I appreciate the warning, I assure you. But why give it? I'm not frightened by threats."
"I know that," said the man in black. "I know a lot about you, about Family Yago, and about Chabad. You must know I am an Enchantean. No, Commander, I didn't expect to scare you. I just wanted to meet an enemy." The screen grayed.
"He has a taste for melodrama," Zed said. The man's afterimage lingered in his mind for a moment. "That _was_ interesting." He had a flair. It was unfortunate that he had been able to sway the Federation to his way of thinking. This explained where all the runners had gone: A-Rae's people in their fast little ships had scared them away. He could tell Rhani that, thought she would not be pleased.
In a few hours it would be dawn on Chabad. He could call her then.
Again, Jo said, "Zed-ka."
"Yes, Jo." The last few days on the Net tended to be full of trivia, all of which seemed to demand his personal intervention.
"It has been brought to my attention by an inspector here: a type-MPL starship just landed in Port, owned and piloted by one Starcaptain Dana Ikoro. Records show that Ikoro is a drug runner who usually works Sector Cinnabar, running comine, tabac, and Verdian nightshade. He bought shuttleship passage to Abanat; claims he's a tourist. His ship contains an empty dorazine cooler."
"How odd." Occasionally, dorazine addicts in other sectors (of which there were a wealthy few) sent runners to Abanat to buy one load of dorazine. But if A-Rae's people were picking up the runners, surely a smuggler would know that there wasn't any dorazine for sale or even theft...."Jo?" He swung around. "Did you view that microfiche before you gave it to me?"
"Yes, Zed-ka."
"It said 'F-Y-E-O.'"
Jo shrugged.
Zed shook his head at her. "I could order you not to do that again, I suppose, but I know you won't obey me. Talk to that Starcaptain. I can't believe he's just a tourist. Find out what he's doing. He's an anomaly. I don't like anomalies."
"Clear, Zed-ka."
"And feed the conversation through to my room. I want to hear it."
Jo inclined her grizzled head. Zed stepped away from the bank of vision screens, returning them once more to the pilots.
The Net made Dana Ikoro claustrophobic.
He was used to curving walls; all MPL starships had them. In _Zipper_ he was as much at home as a nesting bird. But the long Net corridors curved before and behind him, endless as a treadmill. Sometimes they met. He felt as if geometry had somehow been abrogated, as if the great silver structure existed in another dimension, as if he were walking inside a hollow Moebius strip.
He glanced at the crew members beside him, wondering where they were taking him. They had met him at the shuttleship loading port. "Starcaptain Ikoro?" the woman said.
"That's me," he agreed.
"Will you follow us, please? Your presence is requested aboard the Yago Net."
He could, he supposed, have refused. But their manner, so imperious, made him hesitate, and the errand they had come on made him curious. They had put him on a private shuttle and brought him to the Net. At the lock of the silver wheel they had passed prisoners, waiting for the shuttleships which would carry them to Port. None of them looked at him. They were dressed alike, in blue coveralls. Even their expressions seemed the same, as if the Net, or the dorazine, had leached away their individuality and replaced it with -- he didn't know what.
He was cold. He rubbed his arms, wondering where the hell he was being led to. He was sure it would do no good to ask his escorts. The corridor gave no clues: it was featureless, lined with red, blue, green, and yellow doors. The crew member ahead of him stopped. Dana nearly bumped into him; embarrassed, he caught himself in mid-step. A blue door slid aside. "Go in," said the crewman.
As he stepped through, Dana heard the door hiss behind him. He looked swiftly around for another exit -- and his attention was riveted by the presence of the largest Hyper he'd ever seen.
She was much taller than he, and massively boned, but she was all in proportion -- as a mountain is in proportion to itself. She seated herself at a table, and gestured for him to do the same. Her joints appeared to move on steel bearings. Dana had seen Skellians before, but never this close. It was rare to find them in space. They worked Port cities all over the Living Worlds, but almost never trained as Hypers: frequent exposure to null-grav weakened them. It drove the calcium from their bones, turning them brittle.
This woman seemed unaged, or ageless. "My name is Jehosophat Leiakanawa," she said. Her voice was melodic and deep. "I am second-in-command of the Yago Net. You, I know, are Starcaptain Dana Ikoro." She pressed controls in the tabletop, and a pitcher and glasses rose from a hidden compartment. "It was gracious of you to agree to interrupt your flight to Abanat. Please accept the Net's thanks for your help."
She spoke as formally as a Federation diplomat. Dana said, deliberately ingracious, "It doesn't matter. There are always shuttleships."
"Of course," she agreed. "And you're not in a hurry." She had the Hyper skill at making questions sound like statements. "The Auction is three weeks away. The hotels are very crowded; I hope you have friends in Abanat."
"I'll manage," Dana said shortly. All this courtesy was beginning to frighten him. The palms of his hands started to sweat.
What was he doing on this -- this jail? Despite the filtered air, he could smell the characteristic prison scent, made of equal parts of boredom, hopelessness, and fear. "How may I help the Yago Net, Commander?"
"Navigator," Leiakanawa corrected. "The commander abroad this ship is Zed Yago." She laid massive forearms on the table. "This is embarrassing." She did not sound the least embarrassed. "You said, at Port, you are a tourist, Starcaptain. But your activities -- let's say, your reputation -- in other sectors has preceded you to Chabad."
That damned son-of-a-bitch inspector, Dana thought.
"Let me say, it would surprise no one on Chabad if, while you are in Abanat, you decide to mix business with your pleasure."
I hope to, Dana thought. "Navigator, I plan to watch the Auction," he said.
"Of course," she said approvingly. "Everyone on Chabad goes to the Auction." She leaned back a little in the chair. It groaned. "Let me come to the point."
Do, Dana thought.
"You are known to our Port police as a drug runner, Starcaptain. I am prepared to pay for any information that you can give me about the current state of the drug market."