"Anderson, Poul - 1974 Flandry 11 - A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows (Knight Fl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anderson Poul)

("Of course. You see me here, don't you? It's practically a sine qua non
of a field agent staying alive, that he be able to outthink not just the
opposition, but his superiors."

("No doubt you were inspired by the fact that 'stratagem' spelled
backwards is 'megatarts.' The prospect of counting your loose women by
millions should give plenty of incentive."

(Flandry stared. "Now I'm certain you're my bairn! Though to be frank,
that awesomely pleasant notion escaped me. Instead, having developed my
scheme, I confronted a rather ghastly idea which has haunted me ever
afterward: that maybe there's no one alive more intelligent than I.")

--and yet, and yet, an underlying earnestness always remained with him.

Perhaps he had that from his mother: that, and pride. She'd let the
infant beneath her heart live, abandoned her titled official lover,
resumed her birthname, gone from Terra to Sassania and started anew as a
dancer, at last married reasonably well, but kept young Dominic by her
till he enlisted. Never had she sent word back from her frontier home,
not when Flandry well-nigh singlehanded put down the barbarians of
Scotha and was knighted for it, not when Flandry well-nigh singlehanded
rescued the new Emperor's favorite granddaughter and headed off a
provincial rebellion and was summoned Home to be rewarded. Nor had her
son, who always knew his father's name, called on him until lately, when
far enough along in his own career that nepotism could not be thought
necessary.

Thus Dominic Hazeltine refused the offer of merry chitchat and said in
his burred un-Terran version of Anglic, "Well, if you've been taking
what amounts to a long vacation, the more reason why you wouldn't have
kept trace of developments. Maybe his Majesty simply hasn't been
bothering you about them, and has been quite concerned himself for quite
some while. Regardless, I've been yonder and I know."

Flandry dropped the remnant of his cigarette in an ash-taker. "You wound
my vanity, which is no mean accomplishment," he replied. "Remember, for
three or four years earlier--between the time I came to his notice and
the time we could figure he was planted on the throne too firmly to have
a great chance of being uprooted--I was one of his several right hands.
Field and staff work both, specializing in the problem of making the
marches decide they'd really rather keep Hans for their Emperor than
revolt all over again. Do you think, if he sees fresh trouble where I
can help, he won't consult me? Or do you think, because I've been
utilizing a little of the hedonism I fought so hard to preserve, I've
lost interest in my old circuits? No, I've followed the news, and an
occasional secret report."

He stirred, tossed off his drink, and added, "Besides, you claim the