"Paul J. McAuley - Winning Peace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mcauley Paul J)

that would open the hatch.
 Nothing happened.

Carver knew then that the !Cha was awake; it must have locked the hatch from
the inside. He was crouched on top of the escape pod in the wash of the gas giant’s
corpse light with nowhere else to go. Blowing the hatch had compromised the tug’s
integrity; if it plowed into Sheffield’s upper atmosphere, it would break up. And in
less than thirty minutes, it would reestablish contact with Mr. Kanza’s scow. Mr.
Kanza would have to alter the tug’s course to save it, and then he would torture
Carver until Carver’s air supply ran out. So Carver did the only thing he could do: he
opened all the com channels and started talking. He told the !Cha who he was, told it
about Mr. Kanza and Lieutenant Rider, explained why he needed its help. He talked
for ten minutes straight, and then a flat mechanical voice said, “Tell me exactly what
you plan to do.”

Relief washed clean through Carver, but he knew that he was not saved yet.
With the feeling that he was tiptoeing over very thin ice, he said, “I plan to keep us
both out of Mr. Kanza’s clutches. I’d like to surrender to the Navy, but Mr. Kanza
partnered up with an officer in the garrison here, so our only chance is to escape
through one of the wormholes.”

“But you do not have command of the tug.”

“I don’t need it.”

Another pause. Then the flat voice said, “You have my interest.”

Carver explained that the escape pod’s motor was small but fully fueled, that
with the tug’s delta vee and a little extra assist it should be able to get them where
they needed to go.

“I hope you understand that I’m not going to give you the flight plan. You’ll
have to trust me.”

“You are afraid that I killed Dr. Smith. You are afraid that I will kill you, if I
know the details of your plan.”

“It crossed my mind, but you’re a better bet than my owner.”

“If I wanted you dead, I would not need to do it myself. Your owner will do
that for me.”

Carver wondered if that was an attempt at humor. “He’ll kill both of us.”

“He will not kill me if he believes that I have something he wants.”
 “If you do have something, he’ll kill you and take it. And if you don’t, he’ll
kill you anyway.”

Carver sweated out another pause. Then, with a grinding vibration he felt
through his pressure suit, the hatch of the escape pod opened.