Падение Левиафана (ЛП)

Но хотя Наоми и приняла лаконское перемирие, она не хотела, чтобы система "Сокола" была слишком тесно связана с системой "Роси". Когда пришло время, Наоми и Джим, Амос, Тереза и Маскрат вернулись на свои места. Роси втянул обратно свой стыковочный мостик, и оба корабля повернулись спиной к большому зеленому алмазу и устремились к вратам, вместе, но порознь. Это было похоже на предзнаменование чего-то, но Алекс не мог сказать чего. Он продолжал думать об Амосе и Каре в шлюзе, о ее гневе и его спокойствии. Он не был уверен, рад ли он, что черноглазая девушка не может переходить по своему желанию, или беспокоится, что Амос застрянет на Роси, если дела на "Соколе" пойдут плохо.

Ожог был сильным, но не смертельным. Чуть больше полной силы тяжести большую часть времени, а во время еды она снижалась до половины. Теперь, когда они не прятались от лаконских войск, с других кораблей в подземелье поступало больше новостей и сообщений, и Алекс следил за некоторыми из них. Каждый раз, когда приходил новый пакет, он надеялся на сообщение от Кит. Наоми занималась координацией, прослушивала сообщения, отвечала на них, передавала их на "Сокол", чтобы Элви увидела и прокомментировала.

Once the orders came in, it didn't take long to prepare the Rocinante for evacuation from the Adro system. Alex checked with the experience of a lifetime to see how the flight was going. All the maneuvering engines were working properly. Water supplies were still quite healthy, especially compared to the Falcon, which flew drier than Alex would have been comfortable with. The air recirculators were working better than they should. The Epstein drive would need an upgrade sometime next year, if all went well enough to keep them all alive and recognizably human by then.

Alex had heard that an instrument used long enough and cared for well enough acquires a soul. He had never been a religious man, but even without appealing to the supernatural, he felt there was some truth to it. Rocinante and Alex had spent many years in each other's company, and he understood the ship as he would understand a friend. Perhaps it was the usual subconscious imitation of primates, but he sensed that the ship had moods and needs. He could tell by the way the ship was turning when the engine needed power lines replaced, by the sound of the drive echoing through the corridors, he knew they were low on jet mass. Getting ready for another exit toward the gate was like pulling on his socks. He didn't even think about it anymore. The ship and its crew were so close that everything happened by itself.

The Falcon was a newer ship with a younger crew, and it took longer to get it ready for the voyage-especially after a few months afloat. Alvey's men ran the lab without much need to worry about such arcane things as lifting and lowering. Now everything had to be unassembled, stacked, and packed. Alex got the feeling that some of the crew didn't expect to ever leave Adro.

The final decision was to leave the docking bridge in place and coordinate their drives. It wasn't such a difficult maneuver. We just had to let the Falcon and the Rocinante talk to each other during the burn so that their drives would remain synchronized. The bridge from one ship to the other could stay in place, and they could easily go back and forth. Alex liked this idea. He didn't want the Falcon's crew to stop by, and he had no particular desire to make the crossing himself, but there was a kind of equality in such a tandem. The Rocinante was an old warship even before the gates opened. The Falcon was Laconia's most modern science ship, with even more advanced technology than the Gathering Storm could boast. Putting the two together, Alex felt that the Rosi was getting the proper level of respect.

But although Naomi accepted the Lacon truce, she didn't want the Falcon system to be too closely tied to the Rosi system. When the time came, Naomi and Jim, Amos, Teresa, and Muskrat returned to their seats. The Rosi pulled back its docking bridge, and both ships turned their backs on the big green diamond and headed for the gate, together but apart. It was like an omen of something, but Alex couldn't tell what. He kept thinking about Amos and Kara in the airlock, her anger and his calm. He wasn't sure if he was glad that the black-eyed girl couldn't cross at will, or worried that Amos would be stuck on Rosie if things on the Falcon went bad.

The burn was severe, but not fatal. A little more than full gravity most of the time, and it went down to half during meals. Now that they weren't hiding from the Lacon forces, more news and reports were coming in from the other ships in the dungeon, and Alex kept track of some of them. Every time a new packet came in, he hoped for a message from Kit. Naomi did the coordinating, listening to the messages, answering them, relaying them to the Falcon for Alvy to see and comment on.