"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Alliances" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

Gina’s narrow face flushed. “You got us here under false pretenses.”
“I need you to run this ship,” Roz said.
“We could strike.” That came from Belle. She crossed her arms over her chest and
leaned back in her chair.
Roz looked at her with surprise. Belle, who had served on more ships than the rest
of them combined, never acted in an insubordinate manner. She accepted her work
as easily as she accepted her silver hair and advancing years.
“You could,” Roz said. “Then we drift. I can’t run this ship alone.”
“So your plan is to be Galland’s lackey?” Tom asked.
Roz shrugged. “I figure we’ll investigate this.”
“Why?” Belle said. “You know it’s not possible.”
“I have a hunch Galland has sent us there for another reason,” Roz said.
“And then how do you expect to get home?” Ivy asked, her voice soft. “You told
the Ba-am-as that we won’t go through the Corridor. If we don’t, we’ll go so far out
of our way that it’ll take us two years to get back.”
Roz nodded. Then she stood up and walked to the window. Through its protective
coating and quadruple panes, all regulation thick, she saw dust particles floating like
schools of fish. The Millennium could handle small particles of debris like that-it
was built to withstand all sorts of space junk-but she knew that too many trips
through a nebula would make microscopic fractures too small to measure, and
eventually, something on the ship would buckle.
“It doesn’t bother you that it’ll take us forever to get back?” Ethan asked the
question a bit too loudly.
“It bothers me,” she said, “but I’m not going to worry about it right now.”
“What are you worrying about?” Tom asked.
She rubbed her arms. “Getting to that planet. Finding the universal translator.”
“I can’t believe you’re going to go through with the mission!” Ethan said.
She turned. The staff were all staring at her, waiting for her answer. “What do you
want me to do?”
“We could contact the Ba-am-as, and ask for passage out of the Corridor on the
Alliance side,” Ivy said.
“After the lie I told them?” Roz asked. “You think they’ll buy that?”
No one answered her.
“And if we do return, then what? Do I put Galland on report?”
“Sarcasm doesn’t help, Roz,” Belle said softly.
“No, I suppose it doesn’t,” Roz said. “But you’re not coming up with any
solutions.”
“Maybe we should turn ourselves in,” Ivy said softly.
Ethan cursed and kicked the nearest chair. It shuddered on its post, and nearly
toppled off.
“Don’t go breaking the ship,” Tom said to him. “We might have to live here for the
next two years.”
Ethan cursed again.
“Let’s see what Galland wants so badly,” Gina said. “I’m with the captain. We
might have blackmail material here.”
Roz looked at her sideways and smiled. “That’s the kind of response I need from
my staff. Blame me all you want, but let’s come up with some creative solutions to
get us out of this mess.”
“Blackmail is creative?” Belle asked.
“It’s the best thing I’ve heard so far,” Roz said.