"Gordon R. Dickson - Childe Cycle 04 - Tactics of Mistake" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

Mondar nodded. "I'm Mondar, as you say."
"Colonel Eachan Khan," he said, turning to the Dorsai at his right, "may I introduce
Lieutenant-Colonel Cletus Grahame of the Alliance forces?"
"Honored, Colonel," said Eachan Khan, in a clipped, old-fashioned British accent.
"Honored to meet you, sir," said Cletus,
"And Colonel Khan's daughter, Melissa Khan," went on Mondar.
"Hello." Cletus smiled again at her.
"How do you do?" she said, coldly.
"Our host, Secretary Dow deCastries, you've already recognized," Mondar said. "Mr.
SecretaryтАФColonel Cletus Grahame."
"I'm afraid it's a little late to invite you to dinner, Colonel," said deCastries deeply. "The rest of us
have eaten." He beckoned the steward. "We can offer you some wine."
"And, finally, the gentleman on the secretary's right," said Mondar. "Mr. Pater Ten. Mr. Ten's got an
eidetic memory, Colonel. You'll find he's got an encyclopedic fund of knowledge on just about
everything."
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Ten," said Cletus. "Maybe I ought to arrange to borrow you, instead of
library materials, for my next research."
"Don't bother!" said Pater Ten, unexpectedly. He had a creaky, high-pitched, but surprisingly
carrying, voice. "I looked at your first three volumesтАФwild theories, backed up by warmed-over military
history. They must've been going to kick you out of the Academy if you hadn't requested a transfer first.
Anyway, you're out. Now, who'll read you? You'll never finish a fourth book."
"I told you," said Mondar in the conversational pause that followed this small verbal explosion. Cletus
was gazing at the small man with a faint smile not unlike that of deCastries, earlier. "Mr. Ten has an
encyclopedic fund of knowledge."
"I see what you mean," said Cletus. "But knowledge and conclusions are two different things. That's
why I'll be finishing all sixteen of the other volumes in spite of Mr. Ten's doubts. In fact that's why I'm
headed for Kultis, now, to make sure I get them written."
"That's rightтАФhaul victory out of defeat there," creaked Pater Ten. "Win the war at Bakhalla in six
weeks and become an Alliance hero."
"Yes, not such a bad idea," said Cletus, as the lounge steward deftly slid a clean wineglass in front of
him and filled it from the bottle of canary-yellow liquid on the table. "Only it isn't either the Alliance or the
Coalition that's going to win in the long run."
"That's a strong statement, Colonel," said deCastries. "Also, a little close to treason, isn't it? That part
about the Alliance, spoken by an Alliance officer?"
 "You think so?" Cletus said, and smiled. "Is someone here thinking of reporting me?"
"Possibly." There was abruptly a note of something chilling in deCastries' deep voice. "Meanwhile, it's
interesting to hear you talk. What makes you think it won't be either the Alliance or the Coali- tion that'll
end up having the strongest voice among the colonies on Kultis?"
"The laws of historical development," said Cletus, "are working to that end."
"Laws," said Melissa Khan, angrily. The tension she had been feeling beneath the calm talk had
become too much to bear. "Why does everybody think"тАФshe glanced a moment, almost bitterly at her
fatherтАФ"that there's some impractical set of principles or theories or codes that everybody ought to live
by? It's practical people who make things happen! You have to be practical, nowdays, or you might as
well be dead."
"Melissa," said deCastries, smiling at her, "honors the practical man. I'm afraid I have to agree with
her. Practical experience works."
"As opposed to theories, Colonel," flung in Pater Ten, gibingly, "as opposed to bookish theories.
Wait'll you get out among practical field officers in the Neuland-Bakhalla jungle in a practical fire-fight,
and discover what war's really like! Wait'll you hear your first energy weapon sending its sizzle overhead,
and you'll find outтАФ"