"Anthony,.Piers.-.Mute (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Susan)

"Not to mention the matter of concealing a viable psi-mute in an enclave allocated for phys-mutes."

"Not to mention," he agreed again. This was real trouble. Fortunately, he had his way to alleviate itЧprovided he were able to play his trump effectively.

They entered the cave. They rounded a bend in it, and the passage opened into a pleasant chamber. There was none of the moisture or dirt associated with a natural cave; this was even and clean and dry. A normal-seeming man sat on a crude throne made of solid gold, concentrating on an ingot of lead before him. He gave no sign of being aware of the intruders.

"He is almost deaf and blind," Knot said. "And feebleminded. He was not very happy until we arranged this occupation. Now all his needs are provided for, and he
is left alone most of the time. He lives for his work;

.he gets a thrill from a challenging transmutation. But all he knows now is lead, as origin or product. It would be a

'shame to take him away from this. He really doesn't belong in psi-mute facilities."

"I can appreciate that," Finesse said dryly. She walked around the cave as though about to move into it as an apartment, her eyes taking note of the crude blocks of lead jat one side, the crude blocks of gold at the other. A compact, sturdy cart stood on a steel track in an alcove.

*What*s this?"

. Knot walked across. He put his arms around the nearest block of gold and heaved it up, his right arm doing three quarters of the work. It was about the size of a four-liter container, called a gallon locally, but it weighed as much as Knot himself did. He took one staggering step and eased it into the cart, slowly extricating his pinched fingers.

The weight started the cart on its way. "That will roll to our metalshop; it's downhill from here," he said,

; flexing his arms to alleviate the cramp caused by the effort. He could have handled the weight more readily, had both arms been of equal size and strength; but he wasn't really sure his build was a disadvantage. Most normals were right-handed, too; it just wasn't as extreme.

,, "You do have a notion what a gallon of gold is

, worth?" Finesse asked. "Maybe seventy kilograms in that

; one blockЧ"

': 'The earnings of a normal's lifetime," Knot said. "But

you have to understand, it takes our leadmuter several

hours to convert that amount, and he is tired afterward."

"Tired!" she snorted. She looked at the man again. He

' had not moved. His head was supported by his hands, and a small string of drool dangled from his flaccid lips. The block of metal before him seemed smaller than before; it was changing to gold.

"Can he transmute anything to anything?" she asked.

**I mean, were he trained appropriately?"

"We don't know. He prefers the heavier metals, and it is not easy to change his program. It took several months to shift him from lead-as-product to lead-as-origin. The gold is worth enough to stay with, I think."

21

Piers Anthony