"Gordon R. Dickson - Alien Art" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

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ALIEN ART

Copyright ┬й 1973 by Gordon R. Dickson

e-book ver. 1.0

To my mother, Maude Dickson

1.

The annunciator on the hotel room door chimed.

"Who's there?" asked Lige.

There was no answer. Lige did not move. He had been buying native art
too long on these backward, newly settled worlds to open his hotel room
door without knowing who wanted in. Also, he was pushing eighty now; and
he was willing to miss an occasional deal rather than take risks.

"Who's there?" he repeated. "Speak into the annunciator -the black
circle on the door."

"Mister," said a voice from the door, "I'm Cary Longan. I wrote you
about some carvings a friend of mind did. . . ."

It was the right name. Lige put a twenty-second hold on the hotel
security button by his phone and pressed it down. In twenty seconds he
could find out enough to decide whether to flick it back up or let it
sound.

"Open," he told the door. It slid aside and let in a typical New Worlds
backwoodsman. The dress varied, as usual from planet to planet, but the
smell was always similar. Wood-smoke, sweat, assorted native odors. This
woodie was young, young and-stringy.

"Mister, I'm Cary Longan," the woodie said, as the door slid shut behind
him. "I was to remind you your full name was Lige Bros Waters, you said
in the letter."

Lige reached out and flicked the security button off hold.

"Come on in," he said. "Have a seat."

Cary Longan looked uneasily about the hotel room. It was a room that had
cost Lige less than half an interworld unit a day. Its carpeting was
woven of native fibers, the walls were coated with a single color, and
there was no such thing as a float chair in sight. The furniture sat
heavily on thick legs, and was built of wood and fabric.