"Alan E. Nourse - Rocket to Limbo" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nourse Alan E)

chest. His ship! For the moment he forgot that his questions were still unanswered.
"You'll want to get bunked down first," Dr. Lambert was saying. "The other
Officer-in-Training is already aboard, of course. You'll be bunkmates."
Lars nodded. "Who is he? Another bio man?"
"Navigator. I thought you knew." Lambert regarded Lars thoughtfulIy. "He's a classmate
of yours, says you two are old pals. Though I must admit I didn't much like the way he said it."
."What did you say his name was?"
"Brigham," Lambert said. "Peter Brigham. Know him?"
Lars nodded slowly as the crane came to rest at the entrance lock.
Any ideas that he might have had that the voyage to Vega III would be a milk-run
vanished from his mind with a groan. He knew Peter Brigham, all right.
Chapter Two
THE STRANGE CARGO
lars had no opportunity to worry about his bunkmate when he stepped into the entrance
lock of the Ganymede. Lambert spoke to the officer of the deck, a stout, ruddy-faced man
whose up-turned eyebrows gave him an expression of continuous surprise. "Mr. Lorry, this is
Heldrigsson, the other OIT."
"Your new whipping boy, huh?" Lorry nodded curtly to Lars. "All right, get him bunked in
and see that he knows how to strap himself down. Skipper can't see him now anyway, so
we'll have to wait until after blastoff."
They made their way below toward the bunkrooms. As they went they passed through
the laboratories, narrow compartments lined with cabinets and technical equipment. Lars
recognized the ultracentrifuge blocked in against the bulkhead, saw the tiers of incubators,
the agitators and water-baths, the cartons of pipettes and reagents still unopened, but
secured tightly for blastoff.
"There's a big difference between routines you've learned in Earthside labs and the
ones we use in the field," Lambert was saying. "Here we have to be compact, but we also
have to be fast, accurate and absolutely thorough while maintaining strict isolation
technique. Let a foreign bug get loose on board a ship, and that ship may be dead. But we'll
have time for the details later. Your bunkroom is aft of here. Better get settled now."
From far below in the ship engines were throbbing, sending a low, rhythmic vibration
through every brace and floor-
20
ROCKET TO LIMBO 21
jjjlate. Lars stepped into the compact little bunkroom. It was 'hardly more than a
cubbyhole, with two acceleration cots one above the other, two narrow wall lockers, and a
two-foot walk space alongside.
Fortunately, Lars thought, not much time would be spent in quarters. A good part of his
instruction had dealt with the organization of Star Ships and the pattern of life aboard them.
He knew that this bunkroom, like all compartments on the ship, was sealed air-tight and
pressure-tight when its oval hatch was dogged, setting in action the emergency oxygen
supply. Beneath the lower cot pressure suits were stored, as well as a small sealed chest
containing emergency food and water supplies. Disasters occurred on Star Ships despite
all precautions; when they did, each separate region of the ship became a temporarily
self-sustaining emergency unit for the men trapped there.
But under normal conditions the bunkrooms were used almost solely for sleeping,
blastoff and landing. The Koenig drive did peculiar things to a man's insides, Lars had
heard. According to the stories, you didn't care too much if the space yvas a little cramped.
All you really wanted was a steady bunk to strap into, and nobody to bother you for a while.
A wall-speaker crackled and a metallic voice exploded in the tiny room: