"Eric Flint - Ranks of Bronze 2 - Carthago Delenda Est" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flint Eric)

bystander.тАЭ

The Medic gazed down at the corpse of the Voivode. тАЬI always always wondered what the
wormтАЩs blood looked like.тАЭ He trilled pure pleasure. тАЬNever never thought IтАЩd find out.тАЭ

Uddumac interrupted.

тАЬExplain, Fludenoc. I obeyed your command because you are the flarragun of our PoctтАЩon
cartouche. But now that the action is finished, I have a full right to demand an accounting.тАЭ

Fludenoc decided the Medic was no immediate problem, either. He turned to face
Uddumac and the other Gha in the chamber.

тАЬI gave the command because our opportunity has finally arrived.тАЭ

тАЬWhat opportunity?тАЭ asked the Gha holding the Medic.

FludenocтАЩs whole upper torso swiveled to face his questioner. For all its immense strength,
the Gha physique was not limber. Evolved on a heavy-gravity planet, Gha necks were almost
completely rigid.

тАЬYou know perfectly well what opportunity, Oltomar. The same opportunity the PoctтАЩon
has been searching for since it was founded.тАЭ

OltomarтАЩs response was a quick, wavering hiss.

Fludenoc, understanding the subtleties in that hiss, felt a sudden surge of bitter anger. His
anger, and his bitterness, were not directed toward Oltomar. They were directed at the
universe, in general; and galactic civilization, in particular.

The same evolutionary necessities which had produced the rigid upper vertebra of the Gha
species, had also produced their stiff, unmoving faces. The bleak, wind-scoured, heavy planet
where Gha had originated was merciless. No soft, supple, flexible animals could survive
thereтАФonly creatures which presented a hard shield to the world, and thereby withstood its
heavy lashes.

Intelligence, when it came to that planet, came in a suitable form. A form which, when
other intelligences discovered themтАФmore technologically advanced intelligences, but not
smarter onesтАФcould see nothing beyond the stiff shield of Gha faces. And the immense
strength of Gha bodies.

The Gha were famedтАФnotoriousтАФamong all the intelligent races of the galaxy. They were
the epitome of the stolid dullwit. Only the Gha themselves knew of their inner life. Of the
subtle ways in which their breath transmitted meaning; their voices, undertones of sentiment.

Only the Gha knew of their poetry. To galactic civilizationтАФto the Doge Species which
ruled that civilizationтАФthe Gha were nothing more than splendid thugs. The galaxyтАЩs premier
goons.

Fludenoc shook off the anger. (Literally. His fellows, watching, understood the nuances of