《Herbig-Haro》作者： - Harry Turtledove 【EPUB】

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HERBIG-HARO ERIC G. IVERSON HARRY TURTLEDOVE Like all the ships Loki flew. Erasmus Changs scout Praise of Folly was too old. She wentinto or out of hyperdrive with a jolt that twisted a mans guts her air recycler wheezed andshe had a 5 waver in her pseudogravity so Changs weight went through a seven-kilo cycleevery twenty minutes. The computer was old too. In a way that was an advantage: thenavigation data programmed in were Terran Confederacy the most far-reaching set even if it wassix hundred years out of date. But after enough time memory dumps or no. a computer willdevelop a personality of its own—the current flows get set. Chang did not trust his machinevery far. It was as cynically underhanded as he was. quotWell hero theyre still gainingquot it said with what he thought was misplaced amusement. quotI can see that for myself thanksquot he growled. He paced up and down the cabin a lean trimman a bit below middle height whose wide high-cheek-boned face was framed by a thin fringe ofblack beard. Pace as he would though his eyes kept coming back to the hyperdrive detector.There was little enough else to see with the drive on none of the normal-space instrumentsworked. The four glowing points in the detector display were Zanat warships. One he might havechallenged. Taking on four was sure suicide and he could not afford it. Loki and all theworlds in human space needed to know about the Zanat. Unfortunately they would overtake him long before he could deliver the news—long before hegut out of the Orion Nebula for that matter. He punched for a sandwich ate it. When he looked at the FTL display again the four warshipshad slid a little closer. quotI wish Id chosen a different barquot he said. quotYou arent the only onequot the computer told him. As soon as the shavetail lieutenant had stepped into the London Pub. Chang knew his leave wasdoomed. The youngster was in uniform which meant he was on duty. and Cluing was the onlyService man in the dive. Just my luck. he thought sourly: run a successful mission and not getthe chance to celebrate. The load of books cassettes and floppies hed snaked out of the cathedral on Cienfuegosdeserved celebrating too. Old floppies especially were more precious than gold. Even theCienfuegans remembered that much theyd mounted the discs above the altar by the statues oftheir gods. The scout pilot was still fuming when the lieutenant brought him back to SalvageService Central. Bkila thought it was very funny. quotWhere did he find you The London Pub orNadiasquot quotThe London Pubquot Clang sighed. That his habits were known did not surprise him he would havebeen surprised had it been otherwise. Bkila looked him over cocked a critical eyebrow. quotThats not much of a beard either.quot Thescout pilot put a defensive hand to