"Blish, James - Bindlestiff - txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blish James)

Hordes of nude women ran aimlessly back and forth in it, screaming, battering at the wall, dodging wildly, or rolling on the mosaic floor. Every so often a thick stream of water caught one of them, bowling her howling away or driving her helplessly. Amalfi was soaking wet almost at once. The laughter got louder. Overhead, long banks of nozzles sprayed needles of mist into the air.
The mayor bent quickly, threw off his muddy shoes, and stalked the laughter, his toes gripping the slippery mosaic. The heavy column of water swerved toward him, then was jerked away again.
УJohn! Do you need a bath so badly? Come join the party!Ф
It was Dee Hazleton, the Utopian girl who had become the city managerТs companion shortly before the crossing of the Rift had been undertaken. She was as nude as any of her victims, and was gleefully plying an enormous hose.
УIsnТt this fun? We just got a new batch of these creatures. I got Mark to connect the old fire hose and IТve been giving them their first wash.Ф
It did not sound much like the old Dee, who had been full of solemn thoughts about politicsЧshe had been a veritable cornmissar when Amalfi had first met her. He expressed his opinions of women who had lost their inhibitions so drastically. He went on at some length, and Dee made as if to turn the hose on him again.
УNo, you donТt,Ф he growled, wresting it from her. It proved extremely hard to manage. УWhere is this place, anyhow? I donТt recall any such torture chamber in the plans.Ф
УIt was a public bath, Mark says. ItТs in the oldest part of the city, and Mark says it must have been just shut off when the city went aloft for the first time. IТve been using it to sluice off these women before theyТre sent to Medical. The water is pumped in from the river to the west, so thereТs no waste involved.Ф
УWater for bathing!Ф Amalfi said. УThe ancients certainly were wasteful. Still IТd thought the static jet was older than that.Ф
He surveyed the Hevian women, who were now huddling, temporarily reprieved, in the warmest part of the echoing chamber. None of them shared DeeТs gently curved ripeness, but, as usual, some of them showed promise. Hazleton was prescient; it had to be granted. Of course it had been expectable that the Hevian would turn out to be human, for only eleven nonhuman civilizations had ever been discovered, and of these only the Lyrans and the Myrdians had any brains to speak of.
But to have had the Hevians turn over complete custody of their women to the Okies, without so much as a conference, at first contactЧafter Hazleton had proposed using any possible women as bindlestiff-baitЧa proposal advanced before it had been established that there even was such a place as HeЧ Well, that was HazeltonТs own psi-giftЧnot true clairvoy
ance, but an ability to pluck workable plans out of logically insufficient data. Time after time only the seemingly miraculous working-out of HazietonТs plans had prevented his being shot by the blindly logical City Fathers.
УDee, come to Astronomy with me,Ф Amalfi said with sudden energy. УIТve got something to show you. And for my sake put on something, or the men will think IТm out to found a dynasty.Ф
УAll right,Ф Dee said reluctantly. She was not yet used to the odd Okie standards of exposure, and sometimes appeared nude when it wasnТt customaryЧa compensation, Amalfi supposed, for her Utopian upbringing, where she had been taught that nudity had a deleterious effect upon the purity of oneТs politics. The Hevian women moaned and hid their heads while she put on her shortsЧmost of them had been stoned for inadvertently covering themselves at one time or another, for in Hevian society women were not people but reminders of damnation, doubly evil for the slightest secrecy.
History, Amalfi thought, would be more instructive a teacher if it were not so stupefyingly repetitious. He led the way up the corridor, searching for a lift, DeeТs wet soles padding cheerfully behind him.
In Astronomy, Jake was as usual peering wistfully at a nebula somewhere out on the marches of no-when, trying to make ellipses out of spirals without recourse to the Calculator. He looked up as Ainalfi and the girl entered.
УHello,Ф he said, dismally. УAmalfi, I really need some help here. How can a man work without facts? If only youТd turn the City Fathers back onЧФ
УShortly. How long has it been since you looked back the way we came, Jake?Ф
УNot since we started across the Rift. Why, should I have? The Rift is just a scratch in a saucer; you need real distance to work on basic problems.Ф
УI know that. But letТs take a look. I have an idea that weТre not as alone in the Rift as we thought.Ф
Resignedly, Jake went to his control desk and thumbed buttons. УWhat do you expect to find?Ф he demanded, his voice petulant. УA haze of iron filings, or a stray meson? Or a fleet of police cruisers?Ф
УWell,Ф Amalfi said, pointing to the screen, Уthose arenТt wine bottles.Ф
The police cruisers, so close that the light~of HeТs sun twinkled on their sides, shot across the screen in a brilliant stream, long tails of false photons striping the Rift behind them.
УSo they arenТt,Ф Jake said, not much interested. УNow may I have my scope back, Amalfi?Ф
Amalfi only grinned. Cops or not cops, he felt young again.

H AZLETON was mud up to the thighs. Long rib ands of it trailed behind him as he hurtled up the lift shaft to the control tower. Amalfi watched him coming, noting the set whiteness of the city managerТs face as he looked up at AmalfiТs bending head.
УWhatТs this about cops?Ф Hazleton demanded while still in flight. УThe message didnТt get to me straight. We were raided, all hellТs broken loose everywhere. I nearly didnТt get here straight myself.Ф He sprang into the chamber, his boots shedding gummy clods.
УI saw the fighting. Looks like the Moving Day rumor reached the Сstiffs, all right.Ф
УSure. WhatТs this about cops?Ф
УThe cops are here. TheyТre coming in from the northwest quadrant, already off overdrive, and should be here day after tomorrow.Ф
УSurely theyТre not after us,Ф Hazleton said. УAnd I canТt see why they should come all this distance after the Сstiffs. They must have had to use deep-sleep to make it. And we didnТt say anything about the no-fuel drive in our alarm СcastЧФ
УWe didnТt have to,Ф Amalfi said. УSome day I must tell you the parable of the diseased beeЧas soon as I figure out what a bee is. In the meantime things are breaking fast. We have to keep an eye on everything, and be able to jump in any direction no matter which item on the agenda comes up first. How bad is the fighting?Ф
УVery bad. At least five of the local bandit towns are in on it, including Fabr-Suithe, of course. Two of them mount heavy stuff, about contemporary with the Hruntan Empire in its heyday . . . ah, I see you know that already. Well, itТs supposed to be a holy war on us. WeТre meddling with the jungle
and interfering with their chances for salvation-through-suffering, or somethingЧI didnТt stop to dispute the point.Ф
УThatТs bad; it will convince some of the civilized towns, too
ЧI doubt that Fabr-Suithe really believes the religious line, theyТve thrown all that overboard, but it makes wonderful propaganda.Ф
УYouТre right there. Only a few of the civilized towns, the ones that have been helping us from the beginning, are putting up a stiff fight. Almost everyone else, on both sides, is sitting it out waiting for us to cut each otherТs throat. Our handicap is that we lack mobility. If we could persuade all the civilized towns to come in on our side we wouldnТt need it, but so many of them are scared.Ф
УThe enemy lacks mobility, too, until the bindlestiff is ready to take a direct hand,Ф Amalfi said thoughtfully. УHave you seen any signs that the tramps are in on the fighting?Ф
УNot yet. But it canТt be long now. And we donТt even know where they are!Ф
УTheyТll be forced to locate themselves today or tomorrow, IТm certain. Right now I want you to muster all the rehabilitated women we have on hand and get ready to spring your scheme. As soon as I get a fix on the bindlestiff IТll locate the nearest participating bandit town, and you can do the rest.Ф
HazietonТs eyes, very weary until now, began to glitter with amusement. УAnd how about Moving Day?Ф he said. УYou know, of courseЧyou know everythingЧthat not one of your stress-fluid plugs is going to hold with the work this incomplete.Ф
УIТm counting on it,Ф Amalfi said tranquilly. УWeТll spin when the time comes. If a few plugs spring high, wide, and tall, I wonТt weep.Ф
УHowЧФ
The Dinwiddie Watch blipped sharply, and both men turned to look at the screen. There was a fountain of green dots on it. Hazieton took three quick steps and turned on the coordinates, which he had had readjusted to the butterfly grid.
УWell, where are they?Ф Amalfi demanded.
УRight smack in the middle of the southwestern continent, in that vine-jungle where the little chigger-snakes nestЧthe
ones that burrow under your fingernails. ThereТs supposed to be a lake of boiling mud on that spot.Ф
УThere probably isЧthey could be under it with a mediumlight screen.Ф
УAll right, weТve got them placedЧbut what are they shooting up?Ф