"Steve Perry - Aliens 02 - Nightmare Asylum" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Steven)

Nightmare Asylum
Aliens - 02
Steve Perry
 1
Outside in the dead vacuum of space there was no sound; but inside the robot ship, the steady
drone of the gravity drives vibrated like a low note played on some deep-throated musical
instrument. It went through the flesh, to the bone; right to the soul; it had been there since the sleep
chambers clamshelled up to expose their inhabitants to it. A mechanized om that lulled, as if calling
them back into the long sleep, no chambers needed.
Billie sat in the makeshift kitchen, staring at what passed for coffee. The color was right, but
that was about all. The taste was almost nothing, hot water with some vague taint to it. She watched
it cool, stuck in the post-hypersleep lethargy, her own animation still feeling somewhat suspended. It
was like the flu, you couldn’t cure it and it just seemed to hang on forever sometimes. The coffee
vibrated, making tiny ripples that lapped against the circular wall of the cup.
Behind her, Wilks said, “Tastes like shit, don’t it?”
“That would be an improvement,” Billie said. She didn’t turn to look at him as he moved into
the room. He sat on the bulkhead roll-out to her right and watched her for a few seconds before he
spoke again.
“You okay?”
“Me? Yeah, I’m fine. Why shouldn’t I be okay? I’m on a robot ship going God knows where,
leaving behind an Earth overrun by alien monsters, in the company of half an android and a marine
who is probably a borderline psycho.”
“What do you mean ‘borderline’?” he said. “Hey, I’m certifiable on any world you want to
name.”
Billie glanced at him. Couldn’t stop the grin that matched his. Shook her head. “Jesus, Wilks.”
“Hey, cheer up, kid. It’s not as if things are really bad. We got each other. You, me, and
Bueller.” There was silence for a moment. Then: “I’m gonna go monitor the ’casts. You want to
come along?”
Billie shifted on the crate she was using for a chair. Looked at Wilks. The burn scar on his face
was something she almost never noticed anymore, but in this light, it gave his features a kind of wry
malevolence. Like some minor demon out to play practical jokes. “No,” she finally said.
“Suit yourself.” He stood.
Billie sipped at the tepid liquid. Made a face at the nontaste. “Wait. I changed my mind. I’ll go
along.”
It wasn’t as if there was an awful lot to do on this tub. Since they’d awakened, a week had
gone past, with no sign of stopping. Their monitoring gear was crappy, but even so, if there were any
human-inhabited places around, they should have spotted them. The gravity drive was a lot faster
than the old reaction sprayers, but if there was a planetary system, Wilks couldn’t find it. There were
better ways to die than starving on a ship going nowhere.
She should go and see if Mitch wanted to come with them. Mitch. She had trouble with that
even now. Yeah, she loved him, but what a can of worms that turned out to be. Maybe not worms
exactly, but whatever plumbing androids had installed sure looked verminlike. She loved him, but she
also hated him. How was that possible, to have two such opposing feelings at once for someone?
Maybe the medics in the hospital where she’d spent all those years were right. Maybe she was
crazy.
The ship was fairly large, most of it was given over to cargo. They hadn’t really gotten around
to exploring all the nooks in it yet. Billie supposed that if they were stuck in it much longer, she’d get
around to serious poking about, but the urge hadn’t really come upon her; she wasn’t quite bored
enough. Why bother? Who gave a shit?
The control room was tiny, barely space for two to wedge their way into it. The designers had