"Maxine McArthur - Time Future" - читать интересную книгу автора (McArthur Maxine)

"Aren't you excited? This could be our first contact with the outside
galaxy in six months. It could be a ship from the Confederacy."

"Most Con Fleet vessels are equipped with mine detection devices. And
I do not see how contact with a radioactive wreck will prove of any use
to us."

"Cheerful, aren't you?" Murdoch grunted. "Does the word 'morale' mean
anything to you?"

I tapped the status screen on the lift wall that showed the position of
the closest Seouras ship. I like to know where it is, to be able to
"see" them, even if only on our inefficient sensors. The ship was in
the same place as it had been for weeks, on the far side of the
station, facing the Confederacy and the bright swathe of the inner
galaxy.

"It might not be of any immediate use." I turned back to Veatch. "But
if we can analyze the wreckage we may find out why the ship jumped into
this system, whether it's from the Confederacy or not."

The jump in itself was unusual. Normally the drive was not activated
inside a populated system even if a jump point were available, a matter
of both safety and courtesy. Nobody wants even a controlled
singularity--at least, that's what we thought it was--opening on their
doorstep. We didn't know much more about the jump drive. The Invidi
often pointed out that our greatest mathematical minds have failed to
understand it, but I think they should let an engineer have a go.

"I would've thought you'd be glad of a chance to get news from home,"
said Murdoch to Veatch. "Must be hard for you, stuck here with all
these lesser species."

I looked more carefully at Murdoch. Sarcasm was not his usual style.
His blunt, brown features looked tired.

"I do not regard anyone on the station as a lesser species." Veatch
was making his opinion clear. Another first.

"Maybe, but you gotta admit the whole administrative process is
designed to humiliate whoever tries to use it."

My heart sank. If Murdoch came out on the side of the anti-Four lobby,
things could get tougher for me, caught in the middle between them.
Until now, he has been admirably neutral.

"The administrative process is designed for efficiency." Veatch's
normal whine grew sharper in defense of his territory.