"Andre Norton - Time Traders 5 - Firehand" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

Ross thought, unconsciously picking up Eveleen's phrase in the anguish
and shame suddenly sweeping him, he should be on his knees in gratitude
to them instead of nursing a jealousy even he recognized as childish. It
was they who had finally succeeded in healing completely the terrible
mental wound the older man had taken with the loss of Travis Fox and his
colony. Ashe, unjustly, had held himself responsible for that, and the guilt,
the pain of it, had very nearly destroyed him.

"Ross!"

He turned. "Gordon! Over here!"

The other joined him. Ashe was maybe a head taller than Murdock and
was some years his senior, but his body was as lean and hard, and as
browned now by exposure to Hawaika's sun, although he had insisted that
both of them keep covered for the most part lest rays stronger than nature
had meant their skin to bear prove deadly to them in the long run.

"Look at those three," Ross said, pointing to the woman and sea
mammals with apparent pleasure, as if he had only been enjoying their
antics. One thing for sure, he was not about to let himself be caught
whimpering over a fate he could not change like some blasted spoiled
adolescent.

"They've found their home," Gordon agreed, smiling.

He eyed his companion speculatively but then let his gaze wander along
the beach to the tall-masted ship berthed at its farther end. "I watched
you and Torgul today. It took you precisely two minutes and forty seconds
to disarm him, and he's been training with a sword since the day he could
first toddle. Even Eveleen would've been impressed."

A sharp stab of regret raked Ross at the mention of the Project's tough
little expert in ancient weapons and unarmed combat. He had to make
himself laugh. "She'd tell me fair enough and push me on to working with
some other instrument of mayhem."

Still, he was pleased. It was Ashe who had insisted that he learn all he
could from the people around them, particularly their combat and
seafaring skills, as if he were preparing himself for another mission
instead of merely warding off the deadly weight of time and trying to
make himself a more salable commodity to better earn his keep…

He had obeyed willingly enough, although without real heart. It was
interesting work, at least, and the effort did keep his responses keen and
his mind sharp. It also effectively preserved his sanity. Between struggling
to acquire the fine points of the Rovers' weapons of war and self-defense
and the handling of the ships that were their lives, it was precious little
time he had to squander as he had this last quarter hour.