"James Alan Gardner - League of Peoples 06 - Trapped" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner James Alan)

"Out," said the tapman. "Now."

We complied, taking a roundabout route to the door so we didn't pass within arm's reach of the
fishermen. In the doorway, Impervia turned back to the tapman. "Could you please make more tea while
we're gone? We'll be back before it's cold."

The lead fisherman made a belligerent sound and blustered angrily after us.



The odds were five against three in our favor, so I strode out to Post-Hoc Lane without too much
trepidation. Alas, the spring in my step turned to icy black winter as soon as I reached the cold
cobblestones. By the light of the block's single streetlamp, I saw seven more fishermen weaving toward
us: six of them human, one not.

The nonhuman was a half-height yellow alien, mostly hominid-shaped but with tangerinelike spheres on
the top of his head in lieu ofHomo sapiens ears. He belonged to one of the Divian subspecies, but I
couldn't tell whichтАФI've never been an expert on extraterrestrials. Suffice it to say, this fellow was yet
another descendant of spacefarers who FTLed in to exploit our planet after OldTech civilization
collapsed, and who got trapped here when the Spark Lords put Earth into lockdown. Since then, all
aliens had come to be called "demons"... or more accurately, "slaves." The ET coming toward us was
probably owned by one of the other fishermen, or perhaps by the captain of their boat; there were plenty
of slave-aliens in the Dover fishing fleet, and many of them fit in so well they were allowed to go drinking
with the rest of the crew.
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So the Divian and his six buddies tottered drunkenly down the street Add in the three from the tavern,
and that made the odds ten-to-five against us. "I think we just got outnumbered," I said.

"Maybe," Myoko whispered, "that bunch are from a rival fishing boat and they'll side with us against
these other lollies."

"Hey, are you calling us lollies?" shouted a keen-eared someone at our backs.

"What's that?" yelled the Divian, clearly one of the boys even if he was a slave. "Something wrong there,
Nathan?"

"Nothing wrong," replied the most outspoken man behind us. "We just got some eggheads to crack."

The new group roared their approval. "Goddamned time we found a fight in this town! They insult you,
Nathan?"

"They sure did," answered the one called Nathan. "They didn't like the smell of fish."

"To be accurate," said Impervia, "I have nothing against the smell of fish. It wasyour odor I found
objectionable."