"Alfred Bester - Galatea Galante" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bester Alfred)

In this ominous crise Manwright displayed an aspect of his character which none had ever seen: a tone of quiet command that took obedience for granted, as if by divine right, and won it through its assurance.
"Mr. Larson, you may pocket that laser now. It was never needed. Valera, you will let Galatea go," he said softly. "No, dear, don't move. Stay alongside him. You belong to him, unless he's changed his mind. Have you, Valera?"
"You're goddamn right I have," the chairman stormed. "I want no part of this cheap secondhand trash. Larson, keep that gun handy and get on the CB. I want my check stopped."
"Don't bother, Mr. Larson. The check has not been depos-
ited and will be returned. Why, Valera? Doesn't Galatea meet your exalted standards?"
"Of course she does," Corque burst out. "She's brilliant! She's beautiful! She's perfection! She-"
"I'm handling this, Charles. I ,repeat: Why, Valera?"
"I don't buy whores at your prices."
"You think Galatea's a whore?"
"Think? I know."
"You contracted for the perfect mistress who would be faithful and loving and devoted to you."
Galatea let out a moan.
"I'm sorry, my love, you never knew. I'd planned to tell you, but only after I was sure you were genuinely attracted to him. I never had any intention of forcing him on you."
"You wicked men!" she cried. "You're all hateful!"
"And now, Valera, you think of a mistress as a whore? Why this sudden eruption of archaic morality?"
"It isn't a question of morality, damn you. It's a question of secondhand goods. I want no part. of a shopworn woman."
"Must I stay here with him? Does he own me? Am I bought and paid for?"
"No, love. Come to us."
She dashed away from Valera's side and then hesitated. Claudia held out her arms, but Galatea surprised everybody by going to Manwright, who took her gently.
"All right, Valera," he said. "Go now and take your army with you. Your check will be returned first thing in the morning."
"Not until I know who it was."
"Not until who what was?"
"The goddamn lover-boy who knocked her up."
"What?"
"She's pregnant, you goddamn pimp. The bitch has been


sleeping around, and I want to know the stud who knocked her up. He's got plenty coming."
After a long pause, Manwright asked, "Are you under a psychiatrist's care?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"No more ridiculous than your slander. Galatea pregnant? My lovely, tasteful young lady sleeping around with studs? You're obviously quite mad. Go."
"Mad, am I? Ridiculous? You can't see that she's pregnant? lhrn her around and look at her face in this ultralight. Look at her!"
"I'll go through the motions only to get rid of you."
Manwright smiled at Galatea as he turned the girl around. "Just a gesture, love. You'll have your dignity back in a moment, and I swear you'll never lose it ag-"
His words were cut off, as if by a guillotine. In the ultralight from the glowing pool there was no mistaking the dark pregnancy band across Galatea's face, similar to the banded mask of a racoon. He took a slow deep breath and answered the confusion in her eyes by placing a hand over her mouth.
"Go, Valera. This is now a family affair."
"I demand an answer. I won't leave until I know who it was. Your half-wit hunchback, Igor, probably. I can picture them in bed; the slobbering idiot and the-"
Manwright's interruption was an explosion. He hurled Galatea into Claudia's arms, drove a knee into Larson's groin, tore the laser away from the convulsed man, whipped Valera across the neck with the barrel, and held the staggering chairman over the edge of the pool.
"The piranhas are starving," he murmured, "Do you go in or get out?"
After the syndicate had left, not without dire promises, Manwright turned up the house lights and extinguished the
pool ultralight and, with that, the pregnancy stigma banding Galatea's face. In a strange way they were all relieved.
"Not to play the district attorney," he said, "but I must know how it happened."
"How what happened?" Galatea demanded.
"Sweetheart, you are pregnant."
"No, no, no!"
"I know it can't be anyone in this house. Claudia, has she been promiscuous outside?"
NO
"How can you ask such questions!"
"Has Galatea been alone with a man in a possibly intimate situation?"
"You're hateful!"