"Andre Norton - Redline The Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

The portal giving entrance to it was partly transparent, and they paused for a moment to admire the lush greenery within.

"So much!" she exclaimed. "And such variety! — I thought you were forced to flush it all out when you picked up those Sargol pests."

"We did. Mr. Mura's worked hard to bring it back."

Dane took a deep breath as he opened the door, savoring as always the crisp freshness of growing things. Everywhere else, the ship's air was stale, processed stuff. Here, it was alive.

Feeling something brush against his leg, he glanced down. A large, orange-striped tomcat had slipped in behind them and was rubbing him in the traditional greeting of his kind before turning his attention to the newcomer.

Cofort lightly lowered herself to her knees. "Hello, big boy," she said softly as she offered him her hand to sniff. "You're the Chief of Pest Control, I presume?"

"He is," Thorson confirmed. "This is Sinbad, an honored member of the crew."

"Rightly so." She shuddered. "I shouldn't care to voyage far on any ship lacking a good cat."

"You won't find too many who'd give you an argument on that," he agreed.

She scooped Sinbad into her arms. "He's enormous! Ours are kittens by comparison."

"The Roving Star has more than one cat?"

She nodded. "A senior citizen and two former foundlings who now sort of run the place under her supervision."

Rael rubbed the big cat under the chin with the tips of fingers obviously well accustomed to that delicate work and received a rumbling purr as a reward.

Reluctantly, she put him down once more and came to her feet. She sniffed the scent-rich air appreciatively. "I'd know you had a master chef aboard even if Mara hadn't apprised me of that fact. — Thyme, sage, basil, honey seed, sharp grass—all the old faithfuls, and I detect some real delicacies as well."

"Detect? We're not near the spices at all . . ."

"I've got sensitive senses, smell included." Her nose wrinkled. "That's not always an advantage on some of the holes we visit. Besides, I've worked in the Star's hydro quite a bit and more or less know what to expect in a good one."

One familiar aroma was missing. "You should have some lavender," she told him. "There's nothing like it for freshening the air, and it's not overpowering even in the smallest cabin."

Three whistles sounded over the intercom. "Lift-off coming," Dane remarked, unnecessarily since the signal was universal to the starlanes.

They carefully sealed the hydro door after seeing Sinbad out, then scrambled up the ladder with the ease of long custom to strap down So/or Queen would be would come the jump v to Canuche of Halio.

Boredom was the great plague of interstellar travel, but Rael Cofort suffered very little from that in the days that followed. Chiefly, she worked with Craig Tau, but she spent some time with every department, more or less depending upon current need and her expertise in the work at hand.

It was well after mess time but she was still at Tau's terminal, obviously deeply involved in the task before her and quite oblivious to their presence, when the chief Medic and Jellico came into the surgery. She seemed equally unaware of the discomfort of the position she had for some unexplained reason chosen to adopt, sitting so far back that her arms had to stretch to their full length for her fingers to reach the keyboard.

The change in perspective won by another step provided the answer. A furry head and paw rested on the woman's upper right arm. The remainder of the big cat extended down her trunk and filled her lap.

Sinbad's eyes opened at the men's approach. He gave a wide yawn, then leapt gracefully to the floor, where he stretched to his considerable supple length. Still purring in feline contentment, he strode off, tail high, to resume his patrol of the starship that was his universe and domain.

Cofort smiled tenderly even as she flexed her stiff arms. "I love those little fellows so much that sometimes I think

I must have been one."