"Alan Dean Foster - The Empire of T'ang Lang" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

weapons, he would die faster than he would be born.

It was not long thereafter that T'ang located what he wanted. An open platform, with the sun
to one side, well-screened from above but open below and in front. A cluster of foodstuffs
rested just ahead, on a slightly lower level. They would serve as excellent bait, attracting
fliers and airborne city-folk.
Perhaps a young one would drift by, propulsors humming, straining with the awkward unit to
stay near ground. Close by.

T'ang Lang settled himself, making an elaborate ritual out of it. Once set, he would not move
again until it was time to kill. He tested the footing of the platform, found it pleasantly firm.
T'ang was old and knowledgeable. This would be a good place. He carefully spread out and
arranged his weapons, ready for instant use. Then he assumed the Ben-na, the position of
contemplation. For T'ang was also something of a philosopher and had no intention of
wasting away his waiting time.

It had been claimed by others, probably even the city-folk, that if T'ang's people had ever
decided to pool the wisdom they'd accumulated over the millennia, they could form the most
destructive society their world had ever known.

But there was a spark in T'ang Lang, an unquenchable streak of individualism that
precluded any such cooperation.

Fraternizing was discouraged. Besides, were they not rulers individually? How much better
than to submit to a central authority, as the city-builders had done! Tang's people knew they
were superior. And each considered himself superior to his brother.

A small base on which to try and raise a social order.

T'ang found much of interest and pleasure in the harmony of the world. The sun rained down
steadily, wombishly wanthful. An occasional breeze trekked across his platform. Across the
great Green Plain that was the most dominant physical feature of his world, other
light-eaters were busy at their work.

Placid and content in their stolid existence, they were rulers in their own way. But they could
be killed. T'ang had yet to meet anyone who could not. Probably even the sun could be
killed, but it was even further away than the end of the Green Plain. The opinion was held by
some that the light-eaters were the stupidest of aU living creatures. Another school thought
them the most intelligent. Assuredly they were dedicated pacifists. The light-eaters
themselves did not contest these arguments either way.

Possibly this in itself was a sign of that very disputed intelligence.

T'ang Lang wondered, and stared.

One of the lancers flashed by. The lancer-folk owned the finest propulsive systems on
T'ang's world. Superbly engineered, they could move at tremendous speed across the sky.
Their equally amazing detection systems could spot prey many thousands of body-lengths
away. They were capable of twisting, diving attacks few could avoid.