"Michael Scott Rohan - Chase the Morning" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rohan Michael Scott)

That struck a tiny spark. I'd stepped back from something last night -
hadn't I? That girl - what was her name, then? What did she look like? I could
hardly remember. As if 1 had conjured her up out of nothing, right enough; as
if the whole crazy night were that kind of dream, vivid enough to jar you
awake, yet impossible to hold onto, draining out of the memory and leaving
only its emotions behind, like a hollow impression. I should have been
relieved to think that; I wasn't. To think you could have some vivid,
shocking, living experience, something strong enough to leave such nagging
echoes - and yet find the details melting away like morning frost...
What was solid? What wouldn't melt?
My fist clenched tight around my cup. Unwisely; a fierce red rocket of
pain soared up my arm and burst into a glittering blossom - an image, sharp,
sparkling, alive. There she was! Katjka, her teeth sunk in the wound, myself
shivering with agony, only half hearing Myrko and Jyp calmly discussing -
Discussing a ship. And its cargo. Commodities. Goods. But the damndest
ones a man ever heard of. And I had this business at my fingertips. My
fingertips. I had an idea daft enough to match. But after all, why not?
There'd be no harm in it. Computers can't laugh at you. Idly, laughing at
myself, I reached over to the keyboard and tapped in a call to the freight and
docking databases. It might be amusing, at least, to see what they made of a
query for the Iskander.
I hadn't a second to laugh. There it was, right in front of my nose, an
entry in the usual file-card form, complete with a location code for dock and
wharf. But what an entry!
SS. Iskander (500 tons) Out of: Tortuga, Santo Domingo and ports
West Master: Sawyer, Jas. G 1st Mate: Mathews, Hezekiah I. 2nd Mate-.
MacGully, 'Black' Patrick O R. Supercargo: Stephanopopoulos, Spyridion
Bosun: Radavindraban, J.J. Offladen -
Black Lotus, 2 doz. chests (consigned, in
bond)
Indigo, 80 kilos approx.
Peppers (dried), 1 tonne
Conqueror root (in bale), 2 tonnes
Coffee Bean (Grand Inca), 4 tonnes
Skins - Merhorse, 2 gross (consigned)
Plank flamewood, 38 tonnes
Auk down, 20 bales (comp.)
Proof Cane Spirits, 50 hg. (consigned)
Nighteye, 1.5 tonnes
Now loading for return Tortuga, Huy Brazeal and ports
West
Capacity: spoken for, deck cargo only at shipper's risk
I was still staring at it open-mouthed when Dave came over.
'What's this, then? Still working -' He stared at the monitor. 'Well, bugger
me! Where'd you get that from? It's brillV He straightened up as somebody came
in the door. 'Hey, Barry! Clare! Come look at this!'
Barry's beak cut out the light as he leaned over above us. He stared for
a moment, then began to chuckle. 'Very good, Dave, very good! I say, wouldn't
it be marvellous if there was some way we could actually slip that into the
database?'