"Alan Dean Foster - Flinx 2 - Tar Aiym Krang" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

be, he reflected. She'd had plenty of time in which to perfect it. He was only mildly surprised at
the insectoid's presence. Where humans go, thranx also, and vicey-versy, don't you know? So went
the children's rhyme. But they did look s bit uncomfortable. Thranx loved the rain and the damp,
and in this respect Moth was perfect, but they also preferred a good deal less cold and more
humidity. Paradoxically, the air could be wet and to them still too dry. Every time a new hothouse
planet turned up they got ecstatic, despite the fact that such places invariably possessed the
most objectionable and bellicose environments. Like any human youngster, he'd seen countless
pictures of thranx planets: Hivehom, their counterpart of Terra, and also the famous thranx
colonies in the blazon and Congo baisins on Terra itself. Why should humans wear themselves out in
an unfriendly climate when the thranx could thrive there? They had put those inhospitable regions
to far better use than man ever could or would have - as had humans the Mediterranean Plateau on


file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20...ean%20-%20Flinx%202%20-%20Tar-Aiym%20Krang.txt (4 of 79) [1/16/03 6:44:31 PM]
 file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20Alan%20Dean%20-%20Flinx%202%20-%20Tar-Aiym%20Krang.txt

Hivehom.
Indeed, the Amalgamation had worked out very well all around.
From the cut of their necklaces these two were probably from Evoria. Anyhow the female's
tiara and ovipositor glaze were dead giveaways. Probably a hunting couple, hero for some
excitement. There wasn't much to attract thranx to Moth, other than recreation, politics, and the
light metals trade. Moth was rich in light metals, but deficient in many of the heavier ones.
Little gold, lead, uranium, and the like, But silver and magnesium and copper in abundance.
According to rumour, the giant thranx Elecseed complex had plans to turn Moth into a leading
producer of electrical and thinkmachine components, much as they had Arnropolous. But so Far it
had remained only rumour. Anyway, inducing skilled thranx workers to migrate to Moth would
necessitate the company's best psycho publicists working day and night, plus megacredits in
hardship pay. Even off-world human workers would find the living conditions unpalatable at best.
He didn't think it likely. And without native atomics there' d be a big power problem. Hydro-
electricity was a limited servant due to the lack of white water. It formed an intriguing problem.
How to generate enough electricity to run the plant to produce electrical products?
All this musing put not credit hi one's account nor bread in one's mouth.
'Sir and madame, what think ye on my wares? No better of ths type to be found this side of
Shorttree, and damn little there.' She fumbled, seemingly aimless, about her samples. 'Now here's
an item that might appeal to ye. What of these matched copper drink-jugs, eh? One for he and one
for she,' She held up two tall, thin, burnished copper thranx drinking implements. Their sides
were elaborately engraved and their spouts worked into intricate spirals.
'Notice the execution, the fine scroll work, sir,' she urged, tracing the delicate
patterns with a wrinkled forefinger. 'I defy ye to find better, yea, anywheres!'
The male turned to his mate. 'What do yon say, my dear?' They spoke symbospeech, that
peculiar mixture of Terran basic and thranx click-hiss which had become the dominant language of
commerce throughout the Humanx Commonwealth and much of the rest of the civilized galaxy besides.
The female extended a handfoot and grasped the utensil firmly by one of its double
bandies. Her small, valentine-shaped head inclined slightly at an angle in an oddly human gesture
of appraisal as she ran both truehands over the deeply etched surface. She said nothing, but
instead looked directly into her mate's eyes.
Flinx remained where he was and nodded knowingly at the innocent smile on Mother Mastiff's
face. He'd seen that predatory grin before. The taste other mind furnished him with further inform
a lion as to what would inevitably Follow. Despite a century of intimate familiarity and
association with the thranx there still remained some humans who were unable to interpret even the