"Foster, Alan Dean - Flinx - Orphan Star" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

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Author: Alan Dean Foster
Title: Orphan Star
Original copyright year: 1983
Genre: Science Fiction


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Chapter One

"Watch where you're going, qwot,""

The merchant glared down at the slim, olive-skinned youth and made a show
of readjusting his barely rumpled clothing.

"Your pardon, noble sir," the youngster replied politely. "I did not see
you in the press of the crowd." This was at once truth and lie. Flinx
hadn't seen the overbearing entrepreneur, but he had sensed the man's
belligerence seconds before the latter had swerved intentionally to cause
the collision.

Although his still poorly understood talents had been immensely enriched
several months ago by his en- counter with the Krang-that awesome
semisentient weapon of the now-vanished masters of the galaxy, the
Tar-Aiym-they were as inconsistent as ever. The experience of acting as an
organic catalyst for the colossal device had almost killed both him and
Pip. But they had survived and he, at least, had been changed in ways as
yet uncomprehended.

Lately he had found that at one moment he could detect the thoughts of the
King himself off in Drallar's palace, while in the next even the minds of
those standing in close proximity stayed shut tight as a miser's purse.
This made for numerous uncertainties, and oftentimes Flinx found himself
cursing the gift, as its capriciousness kept him in a constant state of
mental imbalance. He was like a child clinging desperately to the mane of a
rampaging devilope, struggling to hang on at the same time he was fighting
to master the bucking mount.

He shifted to go around the lavishly clad bulk, but the man moved to block
his path. "Children need to learn how to mind their betters," he smirked,
obviously unwilling, like Flinx, to let the incident pass.

Flinx could sense the frustration in the man's mind, and sought deeper. He
detected fuzzy hints of a large business transaction that had failed just
this morning. That would explain the man's frustration, and his apparent
desire to find someone to take it out on. As Flinx considered this
development, the man was making a great show of rolling up his sleeves to
reveal massive arms. His frustration faded beneath the curious stares of