"Alan Dean Foster - Flinx 5 - Flinx in Flux" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

onto the market is proof of that."
Murmurs rose from his companions as he lowered his controlling finger. "Right
now the scale of commercial development is limited. Unfortunately, there's
nothing else on the market like the Weave. Demand for it is soaring as its
properties become known. Those who order it know nothing and care nothing for
the fact that its development is a crime against nature.
"We would not be assembled here if we were discussing the harvesting of a normal
growth, but the Weave is the product of the worst kind of unregulated genetic
manipulation. And the company that produced it is hard at work trying to bend
many other lifeforms to their will." His voice was rising and the tic of his eye
accelerating.
"Verdidion Weave is the forerunner of a panoply of abominations. The defenseless
lifeforms of Longtunnel are particularly amenable to genetic alteration. To
those for whom exploitation of the innocent is a middle name, the world is a
biological gold mine!" Aware that he was shouting, he strove to moderate his
tone.
"I have seen some of their proposals for additional bioengineered products, to
be produced by manipulating Longtunnel's indigenous lifeforms. Most are the
product of a single brilliant but morally bankrupt mind, that of the head of
this firm's bioengineering division. This individual is the one cog in the
company's machine which I do not think they can easily replace. Skill at
bioengineering is cheap. Intuition is priceless."
"This individual was responsible for the development of the Weave?" Stick wanted
to know.


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Lizard nodded.
"Then I think our course of action has been determined for us." Flora's
exquisite face was less than pleasant to look upon. "By excising this particular
person we will at one stroke learn what we need to know to successfully conclude
our mission as well as eliminate a possible future blemish on the natural
order."
"That was my intent." Spider clasped his hands over his belly as he leaned back
in his chair. "Longtunnel is both a suitable and an appropriate place for us to
have our little coming‑out party. The crimes being committed against nature
there are of the worst sort, yet the firm which is behind them is neither too
large nor too dangerous for us to deal with efficiently. Furthermore, they have
opened only a single wound on this otherwise pristine planet. A wound, my
friends, which we will suture and heal. We will simultaneously announce
ourselves, serve warning upon our enemies, and cure a cancer before it can
spread. It is agreed, then?"
There was no need for a show of hands, no need even for words, though several of
them did nod approvingly.
Spider turned to Lizard. The two men were individual components of a greater
whole, each like one leg of an insect working to carry the body to a chosen
destination.
"I take it your people are ready to move?"