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

not make a fuss about it? Colonel тАж "
"Right here," said Cletus. They moved off together slowly, she still leaning against him as they crossed
the lounge and went out into the corridor turning left.
She continued to lean on him until they had made a turn in the corridor that hid them from the lounge
entrance, then she stopped abruptly, straightened up and pulled away turning to face him.
"I'm all right," she said. "I just had to do something to get you out of there. You aren't drunk at all!"
"No," said Cletus, good-humoredly. "And not a very good actor either, evidently."
"You couldn't have fooled me, if you were! I can feel тАж " She half-raised her hand, fingers spread
out as if to touch him on the chest; and then dropped the hand abruptly as he looked curiously at it. "I can
see right through people like you. Never mind that. It would have been bad enough if you were drunk.
Trying to play games with a man like Dow deCastries!"
 "I wasn't exactly playing games," said Cletus, soberly.
"Oh, don't tell me!" she said. "Don't you think I know what kind of idiots professional soldiers can
make of themselves when they try to deal with people outside their own special military world? But a
Medal of Honor means something to me, even if most civilians don't know what it is!" Her eyes had
slipped into line with his again. She almost wrenched her gaze away. "And that's why I helped get you
away from him just now. The only reason! тАж And I'm not going to do it again!"
"I see," said Cletus.
"So you get back to your cabin now, and stay there! Stay away from Dow deCastries from now on.
From Dad and me, too тАж Are you listening?"
"Of course," said Cletus. "But I'll see you the rest of the way to your cabin, at least."
"No thanks. I can get there by myself."
"What if someone sees you doing just that and the word gets back to the Secretary that your dizziness
cleared up this quickly, once you were out of the lounge?"
She glared at him, turned and stalked off down the corridor. Cletus caught up with her in two long
strides and fell into step.
"About professional soldiers," he said, mildly. "One isn't just like another тАж "
She stopped and faced him abruptly, forcing him to stop also. "I suppose," she said, grimly, "you think
my father never was anything but a mercenary."
"Of course not," Cletus said. "A lieutenant-general in the Royal Army of Afghanistan, wasn't he, up
until ten years or so ago?"
She stared at him. "How did you know?" Her tone was accusing.
"Military historyтАФeven recent military historyтАФis part of my field," he said. "The University
Revolution at Kabul twelve years ago, which ended up by taking over the government at Kabul, is part of
it. The Afghanistani Army wouldn't have had more than one General Eachan Khan. He must have
emigrated from Earth not more than a couple of years after the takeover."
"He didn't have to leave!" she said. "They still wanted him in the Army, even after Afghanistan gave up
its independence to become a sector area of the Coalition. But there were other things тАж " She broke
off.
"Other things?" asked Cletus.
"You wouldn't understand!" She turned and began walking once more down the corridor. But, after a
few steps, the words came from her as if she could not keep them in. "My mother had died тАж and тАж
Salaam Badshahi Daulat AfghanistanтАФwhen they began enforcing the death penalty for anyone
singing the old Afghanistani anthem, he resigned. So he emigratedтАФto the Dorsai."
"It's a new world full of soldiers there, I understand," said Cletus. "It shouldn't have been tooтАФ"
"They found him work as a captainтАФa captain in a mercenary battalion!" she flashed at him. "And
since then, in ten years, he's managed to work his way just back up to colonelтАФand there he'll stay.
Because the Dorsai mercenaries can't find employment for anything larger than a short regimentтАФand
after his expenses are paid we don't have enough left over from what he makes to visit Earth, let alone
live there again, unless the Exotics or someone pay our way there on official business."