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

old wall and strolled over to the combination booth and home. The thranx had departed happily,
antennae entwined. On their mating flight'? The male, at least, had Seemed too old for that. His
chiton had been shading ever so slightly into deep blue. despite the obvious use of cosmetics,
while the female had been a much younger aquamarine. The thranx too took mistresses. In the moist
air, their delicate perfume lingered-
'Well, Mother,' he began. He was not indicating parentage - she had insisted on that years
ago - but using the title bestowed on her by the folk of the markets. Everyone called her mother.
'Business seems good.' She apparently had not noticed his approach and was momentarily flustered.
'What? What? Oh, 'tis you, cub! Pah!' She gestured in the direction taken by the departed thranx.
'Thieves the bugs are, to steal from me so I But have I a choice?' She did not wait for-an answer.
1 am an old wornaa and must sell occasionally to support myself, even at such prices, for who in
this city would feed me?' 'More likely, Mother, it would be you who would feed the city, I saw you
purchase those same mugspirals from Olin the Coppersmith not six days ago... for eleven credits.'
'Ay? Harrumph,' she coughed. 'You must be mistaken, boy. Even you can make a mistake now and then,
you know. Um, have you eaten yet today?'
'A thisk-cake only.' 'Is that the way I raised ye, to live on sweets?' In her gratefulness for a
change of subject she feigned anger. 'And I'll wager ye gave half of it to that damned snake of
yours, anyway!' Pip raised his dozing head at that and let out a mild hiss. Mother Mastiff did not
like the minidrag and never had. Few people did. Some might profess friendship, and after coaxing
a few could even be persuaded to pet it. But none could forget that its kind's poison could lay a
man dead in sixty seconds, and the antidote was rare. Flinx was never cheated in business or
pleasure when the snake lay curled about his shoulder. 'Gentle, Mother. He understands what you
say, you know. Nor so much what as why, really.' 'Oh surely, surely! Now claim intelligence for
the monster! Bewitched it is, perhaps. I believe it that latter, at least, for I can't deny I've
seen the thing react oddly, yes. But it does no work, sleeps constantly, and eats prodigiously.
You'd be far better off without it, lad.' He scratched the minidrag absently behind the flat,
scaly head. 'Your suggestion is not humourful, Mother. Besides, it does work in the act ...'
'Gimmick,' she snorted, but not loudly.
'And as to its sleeping and easing habits, it is an alien tiling and has metabolic
requirements we cannot question. Most importantly, I like it and ... and it likes me.'
Mother Mastiff would have argued further except that they had gone through uncounted
variations of this very argument over the years. No doubts dog or one of the local domesticated
running-birds would have made a more efficacious pet for a small boy, but when she'd taken in the
maltreated youngster Mother Mastiff'd had no credits for dogs or birds. Flinx had stumbled on the
minidrag himself in the alley behind their first shack, rooting in a garbage heap for meats and
sugars. Being ignorant of its identity. he'd approached it openly and unfearing. She'd found the
two huddled together in the boy's bed the following morning. She had hefted a broom and tried to
shoo it off, but instead of being frightened the thing had opened its mouth and hissed
threateningly at her. That initial attempt constituted her first and last physical effort at
separating the two.
The relationship was an unusual one and much commented upon, the more so since Alaspin was
many parsecs away and none could recall having heard of a minidrag living unconfined off its
native world before. It was widely surmised that it had been the pet of some space trader and had


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gotten loose at the shuttleport and escaped. Since the importation of poisonous animals was a
felony on most planets, Moth included, few were surprised that the original owner had not made