"Charles L. Harness-Stalemate in Space" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harness Charles L)

quantity.
"Did your father send it to you?" she asked.
"The day before you arrived here. It had been en route for months, of course."
 "What did he say about it?"
"He said, 'Your widow and son send greetings. Be of good cheer, and accept our love.' What
nonsense! He knows very well I'm not married and that-- well, if I have ever fathered any children, I
don't know about them."
"Is that all he said?"
"That's all, except that he included this ring." He pulled one of the duplicate jewels from his right middle
finger and tossed it to her. "It's identical to the one he had made for me when I entered on my majority.
For a long time it was thought that it was the only stone of its kind on all the planets of the Tharn suns, a
mineralogical freak, but I guess he found another. But why should I want two of them?"
Evelyn crossed the room and returned the ring.
"Existence is so full of mysteries, isn't it?" murmured Perat. "Sometimes it seems unfortunate that we
must pass through a sentient phase on our way to death. This foolish, foolish war. Maybe the old count
was right."
"You could be court martialed for that."
"Speaking of courts martial, I've got to attend one tonight-- an appeal from a death sentence." He
arose, smoothed his hair and clothes, and poured another glass of terif. "Some fool inquisitor can't show
proper disposition of a woman prisoner."
Evelyn's heart skipped a beat. "Indeed?"
"The wretch insists that he could remember if we would just let him alone. I suppose he took a bribe.
You'll find one now and then who tries for a little extra profit."
She must absolutely not be seen by the condemned inquisitor. The stimulus would almost certainly
make him remember.
"I'll wait for you," she said indifferently, thrusting her arms out in a languorous yawn.
"Very well." Perat stepped to the door, then turned and looked back at her. "On the other hand, I may
need a clerk. It's way after hours, and the others have gone."
Beneath a gesture of wry protest, she swallowed rapidly.
"Perhaps you'd better come," insisted Perat.
She stood up, unloosened her waist purse, checked its contents swiftly, and then followed him out.
This might be a very close thing. From the purse she took a bottle of perfume and rubbed her ear
lobes casually.
"Odd smell," commented Perat, wrinkling his nose.
"Odd scent," corrected Evelyn cryptically. She was thinking about the earnest faces of the mentors as
they instructed her carefully in the use of the "perfume." The adrenalin glands, they had explained,
provided a useful and powerful stimulant to a man in danger. Adrenalin slowed the heart and digestion,
increased the systole and blood pressure, and increased perspiration to cool the skin. But there could be
too much of a good thing. An overdose of adrenalin, they had pointed out, caused almost immediate
edema. The lungs filled rapidly with the serum and the victim... drowned. The perfume she possessed
overstimulated, in some unknown way, the adrenals of frightened persons. It had no effect on inactive
adrenals.
The question remained-- who would be the more frightened, she or the condemned inquisitor?
She was perspiring freely, and the blonde hair on her arms and neck was standing stiffly when Perat
opened the door for her and they entered the Zone Provost's chambers.
One glance at the trembling creature in the prisoner's chair reassured her. The ex-inquisitor, shorn of
his insignia, shabby and stubble-bearded, sat huddled in his chair and from time to time swept his grave
tormentors with glazed eyes. He looked a long while at Evelyn.
She got out her bottle of perfume idly and held it open in her warm hand. The officers and
judge-provost were listening to the opening address of the prosecution and took no notice of her.