"Ron Goulart - Spacehawk Inc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goulart Ron)

His uncle was a long lean man of sixty, with crinkly white hair, window-plastic spectacles and an
aluminum nose. He sat behind a desk made of the Bundy brand of hugging neoplastic. It was wrapped
tightly around the older man, fitting itself to the contours of his lower body. "I hear you've been kicking up
your heels down on Barnum again ... oh, ha ha ha!"
"Something funny in my conduct?"
"Ha ha! No, it's this silly desk tickling my toes," replied his uncle. "Every once in a while we get a
silly piece of neoplastic and ... ha!"
Kip wandered over to the oval window which gave him a look at the planet Barnum. He thought
for a few seconds of the silver-haired girl. "Hints," he said. "Hints are being dropped that I'm going to
embark on a new job, on a new planet."
"Well, Kip, as a matter of fact," said Uncle Wenzel, "I might as well tell you that not everyone in
the top echelons of the company is happy with you."
"Peterkin and who else?"
"Your cousin is very fond of you. He told me only yesterday he thought you were 'plenty okay' in
his book."
Kip left the view hole. "Every time I improvise at all, everybody acts as thoughтАФ"
"Converting those robots into mountebanks Kip," said his uncle. "We have enough to worry
about with the now and thenтАФoh, ha haтАФnow and then malfunctions of the products in our machine and
mechanism divisions. There's no need for you toтАФ"
"Playing cards, that's a lot better therapy than anything Peterkin or Second Dr. Geechie came up
with."
"And cavorting with one of the inmates. Now, Kip, you know I'm not the kind of person to insist
that the family name be kept spotless. However, you might ask yourself the next time you're about to
cavort, 'Is this worthy of a Bundy? Is what I am about to do going to besmirch the honorable name
of...?'"
"Did you ever say that while you were dropping your pants?"
Uncle Wenzel replied, "I never led the kind of life you do, Kip. Oh, not that I didn't... but let's get
to the business at hand. Sit down, will you?" He gestured at the hugging neoplastic chair in front of his
desk.
"I don't trust that particular chair. I suspect, maybe, it's a little gay."
"Really? I've never been very good at detecting that sort of thing. Once, as a result, the
Archbishop of Jupiter ... Well, where are my notes?
Yes, here. Could you at least squat? I like to look at a man eye to eye."
Kip carried a tin hassock from the corner, sat in front of the desk. "Where do you want me to
go?"
"You have to understand that this job, Kip, isn't a punishment," began his uncle. "Not that there
aren't those in the higher echelons who are dissatisfied with your nonchalant approach to the family
business. This assignment, however, calls for both skill and daring."
"Oh, so?"
"You've never, I believe, been to the planet Malagra?"
"Malagra?"
"It's actually not as unpleasant as it's been painted, so they tell me."
"It's known as the pesthole of the Barnum System."
"Well, it is a pesthole, but there are compensations."
"Such as?"
"I'll give you a travel brochure before you leave."
"That's where you intend to ship me?"
"Malagra, yes. This assignment comes under the heading of trouble-shooting, and calls for both
skill andтАФ"
"Butlers," said Kip, snapping his fingers.