《Grimes 032 Into the Alternate Universe》作者： - A. Bertram Chandler【EPUB】

zaq

Into the Alternate UniverseA. Bertram ChandlerIThe inevitable freezing wind whistled thinly across the Port Forlorn landingfield bringing with it eddies of gritty dust and flurries of dirty snow. Fromhis office on the top floor of the Port Administration Building CommodoreGrimes stared out at what over the long years he had come to regard ashis private kingdom. On a day such as this there was not much to see. Savefor Faraway Quest the Rim Worlds Government survey ship the spaceportwas deserted a state of affairs that occurred but rarely. Soon it wouldresume its usual activity with units of the Rim Runners fleet droppingdown through the overcast from Faraway Ultimo and Thule from theplanets of the Eastern Circuit from the anti-matter systems to the GalacticWest. But now there was only the old Quest in port although a scurry ofactivity around her battered hull did a little to detract from the desolationof the scene.Grimes stepped back from the window to the pedestal on which the bigbinoculars swiveled on their universal mount. He swung the instrument untilFaraway Quest was centered in the field of view. He noted with satisfactionthat the bitter weather had done little to slow down the work of refitting.The flare of welding torches around the sharp stem told him that the newMass Proximity Indicator was being installed. The ships original instrumenthad been loaned to Captain Calver for use in his Outsider and theOutsider her Mannschenn Drive unit having been rebuilt rather than merelymodified was now falling across the incredibly wide and deep gulf of lightyears between the island universes.And I thought Grimes sullenly am stuck here. How long ago was my lastexpedition when I took out the old Quest and surveyed the inhabitedplanets of what is now the Eastern Circuit and the anti-matter worlds tothe Galactic West But they say that Im too valuable in an administrativecapacity for any further gallivanting and so younger men like Calver andListowel have all the fan while I just keep the seat of my office chairwarm . . . .quotCommodore GrimesquotGrimes started as the sharp