"Chad Oliver - The Winds of Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Oliver Chad)

be the Great Cynic, Nlesine."
"Meaning that I'm obnoxious enough without trying?"
"Meaning that it must get a bit tiresome, even for you."
"Why don't you preach to me about Golden Humanity, like Kolraq does? Explain about the unity of
life, the harmony of the spheres, the cuddly qualities of the little furry creatures—"
"No, thanks," Arvon said, raising his book like a shield. "I'd rather read."
The ship shuddered slightly; the high hum increased its pitch to an uncomfortable whine.
A door slid open and Hafij, the navigator, stepped into the cabin. He was erect and calm, his strange
black eyes sweeping the others with something that was more unconcern than contempt. "We're going to
come out of it in a minute," he said. "Better strap yourselves in."
"The field still acting up?" Arvon asked.
"Some, yes."
"There won't be any—trouble—will there?" Tsriga wiped his hands on an overly fancy handkerchief.
The navigator shrugged.
Nlesine rose to the occasion. "It looks bad to Nlesine," he muttered, employing his favorite phrase.
"We'll have to sleep our way home, if we ever come out of the distortion field at all. Is the emergency
stuff all set up, Hafij?"
"It's ready," Hafij said, and didn't laugh.
"Hold on," Nlesine said, sitting up straighter. "You mean there's really going to be—"
"Better strap yourselves in," the navigator said, and went back to the control room.
The three men stared at each other, suddenly closer than they had been in the four years they had
been together.
"It looks bad to Nlesine," Nlesine said wryly.
"It even looks bad to Arvon," Arvon muttered.
Tsriga, very young and very afraid, strapped himself in his chair and closed his eyes.
The ship shuddered again. Somewhere in the walls a cable began to spark hissingly.
The gray emptiness around them seemed very near, pressing in on them, suffocating them—
"Here goes nothing," Arvon said.
The lights dimmed. They waited.
The ship came out of it.
When it happened, it happened all at once. There was no transition. The ship blinked out of
nothingness, back into normal space, back into a dark sea where the stars were gleaming islands and no
winds ever blew. It was a friendlier place, somehow, than what they had left behind them. Vast it was,
this ocean where worlds were dust, and yet it was familiar, too, for it was the universe that had given
birth to man; it could be understood, however dimly.
 The ship swam through the deeps at close to the speed of light, but there was no sensation of
movement, and the stars maintained their chill remoteness.
The ship still had a long way to go.
"Looks like we made it," Arvon said, unstrapping himself.
"We haven't landed yet," Nlesine reminded him.
"That was a rough pull-out," Tsriga said, the color coming back into his cheeks. "Nobody can tell me
we weren't in trouble that time."
The sound of the atomics dwindled to a steady, throbbing hum—smooth, comforting, precise.
The control room door slid open again and Hafij stuck his head in. "Derryoc in here?" asked the
navigator.
"Yeah," said Nlesine. "He's hiding under my chair."
"Probably back in the library," Arvon said. "You want him?"
"We should touch down in another twelve hours. Seyehi wants to get the computers set up for the
first scan, and he says he doesn't want to have to do it all over again when Derryoc quits pounding his ear
long enough to think up objections."