"Joe Haldeman - A Tangled Web" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haldeman Joe)

else? I stood there for a minute while he looked at me or the ground or the sky. You could
never tell.
тАФI hope this isn't a rude question, he said. тАФWill you forgive me if this is a rude
question?
тАФI certainly will try.
тАФIs your name !ica'o *va!o?
тАФThat was admirably close. тАФIt certainly is.
тАФYou could follow me. He got up. тАФOr enjoy the pleasant day.
 I followed him closely down the narrow street. If he got in a crowd I'd lose him for sure. I
couldn't tell an estrus-four female from a neuter, not having sonar (they tell each other apart
by sensing body cavities, very romantic).
We went through the center of town, where the well and the market square were. A few
dozen !tang bargained over food, craft items, or abstractions. They were the most mercantile
race on the planet, although they had sidestepped the idea of money in favor of labor
equivalence: for those two ugly fish I will trade you an original sonnet about your daughter
and three vile limericks for your next affinity-group meeting. Four limericks, tops.
We went into a large white building that might have been City Hall. It was evidently
guarded, at least symbolically, since two !tang stood by the door with their arms exposed.
It was a single large room similar to a Terran mosque, with a regular pattern of square
columns holding 'up the ceiling. The columns supported shelving in neat squares, up to about
two meters; on the shelves were neat stacks of accordion-style books. Although the ceiling
had inset squares of glass that gave adequate light, there was a strong smell of burnt fish oil,
which meant the building was used at night. (We had introduced them to electricity, but they
used it only for heavy machinery and toys.)
The !tang led me to the farthest corner, where a large hay-stack was bent over a book,
scribbling. They had to read or write with their heads a few centimeters from the book, since
their light-eyes were only good for close work.
тАФIt has happened as you foretold, Uncle.
тАФNot too amazing a prophecy, as I'd sent a messenger over yesterday.
Uncle waved his nose in my direction. тАФAre you the same one who came four days ago?
тАФNo, I have never been to this place. I am Ricardo Navarro, from the Starlodge tribe.
тАФI grovel in embarrassment. Truly it is difficult to tell one human from another. To my
poor eyes you look exactly like Peter Lafitte.
(Peter Rabbit is bald and ugly, with terrible ears. I have long curly hair with only a trace
of gray, and women have called me attractive.) тАФPlease do not be embarrassed. This is
often true when different peoples meet. Did my brother say what tribe he represented?
тАФI die. O my hair falls out and my flesh rots and my bones are cracked by the hungry
ta!a'an. He drops me behind him all around the forest and nothing will grow where his
excrement from my marrow falls. As the years pass the forest dies from the poison of my
remains. The soil washes into the sea and poisons the fish, and all die. O the embarrassment.
тАФHe didn't say?
тАФHe did but said not to tell you.
That was that. тАФDid he by some chance say he was interested in the small morsel of land
I mentioned to you by courier long ago?
тАФNo, he was not interested in the land.
тАФCan you tell me what he was interested in?
тАФHe was interested in buying the land.
Verbs. тАФMay I ask a potentially embarrassing question?
 He exposed his arms. тАФWe are businessmen.
тАФWhat were the terms of his offer?