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

"What about practical medicine?" The other shrugged. "Luck's been with us, and we haven't had to put her skills to the test."

Craig lowered himself into the chair Rael had vacated. "What do the others report?"

"According to Johan, she's competent. No genius, maybe, but he can use her. Tang would put her on the screens or transceivers any time. Steen says she's got the theory, some of it pretty obscure, but real-life calculations're another matter. She probably could bring a ship through if pressed. He just wouldn't care to be aboard when she tried."

"Astrogation's a specialized art," the Medic observed.

"So's surgery. None of us flyboys'd want to take a crack at that."

"Frank's opinion?"

"He wouldn't need to have a blaster put to his head to make him eat her cooking, but he'd rather keep her chained to the hydro. Claims she could pull fruiting plants out of deep space."

Tau nodded. "She seems to like dealing with living things, which is natural enough for a Medic, I suppose. At any rate, it can get results. — Trade's people work on a grand scale. What has Van to say?"

Jellico spread his hands wide. "That she knows goods, especially luxury items, but whether she can do anything with them is anyone's guess. Her dealings with us are no indication. We're her own kind, and she was holding the blaster."

That was about what Tau had expected to hear. "Strong in biotic areas, adequate with machines and math." The common pattern. Most people leaned to one or the other. "It's the degree of achievement she's attained in the areas where she's good that sets her apart. I'd say Teague Cofort was none too pleased when she lifted off the Roving Star."

"Credits down he wasn't," Miceal agreed. Even if he had been more than a little relieved to see her go.

"What about you? Have you been able to leam anything yourself?" He knew Rael had been spending a good part of what she would allow herself of free time in the Captain's company, although there was little help she could give him on the bridge.

"Not much. She's got a layman's knowledge of animals, but it's broad and detailed. She likes them, so I guess she retains whatever she reads about them. It works that way for me. At any rate, I haven't had to talk down to her yet."

He glowered. "Queex'll never be the same after she goes. He looks for her to show up now. To be more precise, he demands her presence."

"Maybe she should continue showing up," the Medic suggested seriously.

His companion looked at him incredulously. "We know hardly anything more about that damn woman than her name!"

"Be reasonable, Miceal," Craig said smoothly. "We could establish a precedent, a whole new rank. Hoobat-Sitter

First Class ..."

Too late, Jellico saw the sparkle in his dark eyes and knew he had been taken over the jets proper. He informed the other, graphically, just where and how he should file that particular suggestion.

Both were grave again in the next moment. "She isn't terribly communicative," Tau agreed. "Plenty of detail on a lot of different subjects, but nothing about one Rael Co- fort. Do you have some suspicions over and above that mystery?"

"Just a lot of questions with no answers forthcoming." "You've done some checking?"

He nodded briskly. "Van and I both. What we could check. Her brother's the legend of the starlanes, not her. There's not much information on her floating around."

"She meshes well," the Medic observed.

"Maybe aye, maybe no. Unless I'm misreading some of the signals, Cofort rasps on a couple of our junior members. She's older than any of them and well out of apprenticeship, but she's so good at so damned many things that she can come across as a threat at times."

"Dane?"