"Norton, Andre - Solar Queen 02 - Plague Ship" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

For a moment the Cargo-master hesitated, his heavy-lidded eyes looked sleepy, he seemed almost
disinterested in the suggestion. And when he nodded it was with the air of someone about to perform some
boring duty.

"Right, sir." He wriggled his heavy body from behind the small table, resealed his tunic, and settled his cap
with as much precision as if he were about to represent the Queen before the assembled nobility of Sargol.

Dane hurried down the ladders, coming to a halt beside Ali. It was the turn of the man at the foot of the
ramp to bark an impatient demand:

"Well?" (Was that the theme word of every Captain's vocabulary?)

"You wait," Dane replied with no inclination to give the Eysie officer any courtesy address. Close to a
Terran year aboard the Solar Queen had inoculated him with pride in his own section of Service. A Free
Trader was answerable to his own officers and to no one else on Earth--or among the stars--no matter
how much discipline and official etiquette the Companies used to enhance their power.

He half expected the I-S officers to leave after an answer such as that. For a Company Captain to be forced
to wait upon the convenience of a Free Trader must be galling in the extreme. And the fact that this one
was doing just that was an indication that the Queen's crew did, perhaps, have the edge of advantage in any
coming bargain. In the meantime the Eysie contingent fumed below while Ali lounged whistling against
the exit port, playing with his sleep rod and Dane studied the grass forest. His boot nudged a packet just
inside the port casing and he glanced inquiringly from it to Ali.

"Cat ransom," the other answered his unspoken question.
So that was it--the fee for Sinbad's return. "What is it today?"

"Sugar--about a tablespoon full," the Engineer-assistant returned, "and two colored steelos. So far they
haven't run up the price on us. I think they're sharing out the spoil evenly, a new cub brings him back
every night."

As did all Terran ships, the Solar Queen carried a cat as an important member of her regular crew. And the
portly Sinbad, before their landing on Sargol, had never presented any problem. He had done his duty of
ridding the ship of unusual and usual pests and cargo despoilers with dispatch, neatness and energy. And
when in port on alien worlds had never shown any inclination to go a-roving.

But the scents of Sargol had apparently intoxicated him, shearing away his solid dignity and middle-aged
dependability. Now Sinbad flashed out of the Queen at the opening of her port in the early morning and
was brought back, protesting with both voice and claws, at the end of the day by that member of the
juvenile population whose turn it was to collect the standing reward for his forceful delivery. Within three
days it had become an accepted business transaction which satisfied everyone but Sinbad.

The scrape of metal boot soles on ladder rungs warned of the arrival of their officers. Ali and Dane
withdrew down the corridor, leaving the entrance open for Jellico and Van Rycke. Then they drifted back
to witness the meeting with the Eysies.

There were no prolonged greetings between the two parties, no offer of hospitality as might have been
expected between Terrans on an alien planet a quarter of the Galaxy away from the earth which had given
them a common heritage.