"Godwin, Parke - Snake Oil 02 - The Snake Oil Wars, or Scheherazade Ginsberg Strikes Again (b)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Godwin Parker)

was."

"Darling." Purji kissed him again with sharpening intent and therapeutic effect.
"It still is,"

After impromptu love amid the ruins, Coyul felt more like his old self,
restoring the salon to former glory and setting out caviar and smoked salmon for
Purji. "A delicious human innovation, one of their better efforts. Try some."

She nibbled tentatively. "Looked so visceral on the walls."

After a quick search, Coyul had decided not to worry about Gershwin or Kaufman.
They'd probably recombined on their own and gone home. Gershwin would take it in
stride, but the hypochondriac Kaufman might let it ruin his week.

"Now. Purji, where in the universe have you been""

"Oh, simply everywhere." Draped over the lounge, Purji was delightfully
discovering scotch. "Chasing the stars in their courses"

"You just vanished."

"So did you. Of course there is a vast difference between being marooned with
monkeys"-she punctuated her thought with a wave of her glass and a small hiccup-
"and being taken up socially by Keljian humans."

Though larger than Earthers and utterly beautiful, Keljians were still
meandering through a Bronze Age state of development, but for Purji the
interlude had been glorious. "You are in the presence of the most popular
fertility goddess Keljia ever knew."





,,No! You theological brigand."

Purji searched Coyul's mind like a memory bank for a comparable image, "I was a
star, an unqualified hit. They were sacrificing to me day and night."

"Ye gods. not people"

"Anyone they could throw and tie. You know humans when they get carried away. I
discouraged the practice immediately, willed the fires to go out. Instead of
combusting to my glory, the sacrifice lay there complaining until they finally
got the point and just sent dowers. Oh, but it was lovely when they chose my
annual consort." Purji lay back with a blissful sigh. "Keljian males are
admirable. Picture it, dear; thousands of years of celebrity, festivals, done by
the best sculptors, invoked in love songs. But then . . . oh, then."