Чужой
IX
Supposeweputourpressuresuitsoninstead,thenbleedtheair?Itcan’tsneakuponusifwe’reawakeinoursuits.’
’Whataswellidea.’Lambert’stoneindicatedthatsheconsidereditanythingbut.
’What’swrongwithit?’
’We’vegotforty-eighthoursofairinourpressuresuitsandittakestenmonthstogethome,’Ashexplained.’Ifthecreaturecangoforty-ninewithoutair,we’rerightbackwherewestarted,exceptwe’velosttwodays’suittime.’
’Otherthanthat,’saidLambert,’aswellidea.Comeon,Parker,thinkofsomethingnew,youtwo.’
Theengineershadnointentionofgivingupontheideasoeasily.’Maybewecouldrunsomekindofspeciallinesfromthesuittankstothemainones.BrettandIareprettygoodpracticalengineers.Thevalveconnectionswouldbetricky,butI’msurewecoulddoit.Wegotusbackup,youknow.’
’Allbyyourlittleoldselves.’Ripleydidn’ttrytomoderatehersarcasm.
’It’snotpractical.’Ashspokesympatheticallytothetwomen.’You’llrecallthatwediscussedthedefinitepossibilitythiscreaturemaybeabletosurvivewithoutair.Theproblemismoreextensivethanthat.
’Wecan’tremainhookedtothemaintanksbyumbilicalsandsimultaneouslyhuntthecreaturedown.Evenifyourideaworks,we’llhaveusedsomuchairinthesuitsthatthere’llbenonelefttomeetuswhenweemergefromhypersleep.Thefreezerswillopenautomatically..tovacuum.’
