"John E. Stith - Redshift Rendezvous" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stith John E)

"That's Rory and you both, tonight.And I'm not even on duty."

Bella looked up at me speculatively."That's your trouble,Jason.You're always on duty."

The next day theRedshift was scheduled to dock near Vestry.I was on the bridge to supervise the
maneuver.The layer-ten velocity readout had switched from percent of c down to micrometers per
second now that we were closing in on the dock.The corresponding layer-zero readout showing the
normal-space equivalent,was down in the kilometers-per-second range.

Razzi Luxon,the second officer,was there,too,her blonde hair held by a clasp at the back of her neck.At
leastshe wasn't giving me a difficult time about my lifestyle.Aside from the immediate preoccupation of
being engaged in docking,she rarely seemed inclined to offer me advice.

Razzi sat in her chair,leaning forward in anticipation,even though her command goggles eliminated
speed-of-light delays.I shouldn't have been,but I was occasionally surprised that Razzi was so thorough
and competent,not that she looked unprofessional,but because she viewed her duties on ship as simply a
means to an end: travel.She loved to visit star systems wherever our route took us,and whenever we had
a long enough layover to get off the ship.

The central display showed Vestry's orbital dock as we approached.A scanner constantly translated
back and forth between theRedshift in layer ten and normal space,layer zero.Beacons on the dock
guided our craft slowly into position.

Vestry's dock consisted of a long,narrow hallway in an orbital station.

Hatches and doors were seldom used on theRedshift. When you could translate a passenger or piece of
freight directly from a layer-zero loading platform into the correct corridor aboard the ship,all you really
needed to do is make absolutely certain that the source and destination were perfectly lined up.Having an
unprotected passenger step from a comfortable loading dock into the hard vacuum of layer ten was bad
for repeat business.

Actually,passengers did have some protection,as did the crew.We all wore lifebelts that generated a field
allowing our bodies to function at regular speed.Put a human body in layer ten with synapse speeds
limited by our speed of light,and you had just a dead body.The master clock lines and selected
equipment aboard were aided by the same fields,but protecting the entireRedshift would have cost more
than the ship was worth.

Razzi pressed a switch,leaned back in her chair,pushed her goggles onto her forehead,and turned
toward me."Everything looks smooth."

TheRedshift glided slowly into position,matching the dock's motion with propulsion since the ship in
layer ten couldn't take advantage of Vestry's layer-zero planetary mass to force the ship into a natural
orbit.

"We're in sync," Razzi said,once the status panel showed a perfect overlap.The ship's control system
would keep maneuvering theRedshift to keep us superimposed with the dock as it orbited Vestry.
"Thanks," I said."Ill be watching the loading if you need me."

Razzi nodded,her attention again on the status panel showing the portal,currently lined up with level