"Smith, E E Doc - Subspace 01 - Subspace Explorers V2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

"As you were, Mister Jones!" Deston rasped, and Jones subsided. Deston went on, very
quietly, As crew chief, Newman, you know the law. I am in command."

"You ain't in command of me, pretty boy. Not out here where nobody has ever come
back from. I make my own law-with this." Newman patted his side pocket.

"Draw it, then, or crawl." Deston's face was coldly calm; his right hand still hung
motionless at his side. Newman glanced at the girls, both of whom were frozen; then at
Jones, who smiled at him pityingly. "I . . . my ... but yours is right where you can get at
it," he faltered.

"You should have thought of that sooner. I'm waiting, Newman."

"Just wing him, Babe," Jones said then. "He's strong enough, except in the head. We
may need his back." "Uh-uh. I'll have to kill him sometime, so it might as well be now.
Square between the eyes. A hundred bucks I'm two millimeters off dead center?"

Both girls gasped and stared at each other in horror; but Jones said calmly, without
losing any part of his smile, "Not a dime; I've lost too much that way already,"-at which
outrageous statement both girls realized what was going on and smiled in relief.

And Newman misinterpreted those smiles completely; especially Bernice's. The words
came hard, but he said them. "I crawl."

"Crawl, what?" "I crawl, sir."

"Your first lob will be to build some kind of a brute force device to act as a clock. One
more break will be your last. Flit."

Newman flitted-fast-and Barbara, who had opened her mouth to say something, shut it.
No, he would have killed the man; he would have had to. He still might have to. So she
said, instead.

"Why'd you let him keep his pistol? The . . , the slime) And after you saved his life, too!"

"Typical of the type. One gun won't make any difference.

"But you can lock up all their guns, can't you?"

"I'm afraid not. Lopresto's a mobster, isn't he, Herc?" "If he's a financier I'm an
angel-complete with wings and halo. They'll have guns hidden out all over the place."
"Check. You and I'll go over and..."

"And I," Adams said. "I must tri-di everything, and do some autopsies, and . . ."

"Of course," Deston agreed. "With a Big Brain along -oh, excuse that crack, please,
Doctor Adams. It slipped out on me."

Adams laughed. "In context, I regard that as the highest compliment I have ever