"Charles DeVet & Katherine MacLean - Cosmic Checkmate" - читать интересную книгу автора (DeVet Charles)

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Cosmic Checkmate by
Charles V. DeVet and
Katherine MacLean
I
The sign was big, with black letters that read: I'll Beat You the Second
Game.

I eased myself into a seat behind the play board, straightened the
pitchman's cloak about my shoulders, took a final deep breath, let it
outтАФand waited.

A nearby Fair visitor glanced at the sign as he hurried by. His eyes
widened with anticipated pleasure and he shifted his gaze to me, weighing
me with the glance.

I knew I had him.

The man changed direction and came over to where I sat. "Are you
giving any odds?" he asked.

"Ten to one," I answered.

"A dronker." He wrote on a blue slip with a white stylus, dropped it at
my elbow, and sat down.

"We play the first game for feel," I said. "Second game pays."

Gradually I let my body relax. Its weight pulled at the muscles of my
back and shoulders, and I slouched into a half-slump. I could feel my
eyelids droop as I released them, and the corners of my mouth pulled
down. I probably appeared tired and melancholy. Or like a man operating
in a gravity heavier than normal for him.

Which I was.

I had come to this world called Velda two weeks earlier. My job was to
find why its humanoid inhabitants refused all contacts with the
Federation. Earth's colonies had expanded during the last several
centuries until they now comprised a loose alliance known as The Ten
Thousand Worlds. They were normally peacefulтАФand wanted peace with
Velda. But you cannot talk peace with a people who won't talk back.
Worse, they had obliterated the fleet bringing our initial peace overtures.