"Harrison, Harry- The Stainless Steel Rat for President" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

per and the sturdy medical machine grew before our eyes. When it was life-size again it was but the work of a moment to pull out its power leads and plug them into the atomic generator of the touring car. Angelina carefully removed the bandages from my armЧit really was a messЧand I lay back in the beneficial embrace of the machine. It hummed therapeutically and industriously and I felt better already.
I was almost sorry to leave our bosky dell a day later. The tissues of our spirits, as well as the tissues of my arm, had been restored by our stay here. The weather was perfect, the air clear, the pressures none. Angelina and I talked quietly while she knitted; she was using monomolecular fiber to make a bulletproof vest. The boys paid court to Flavia who basked in the warmth of their attention and forgot for the moment the ordeal that she had been through. But once my arm had healed the old itch for action began to scratch for attention. Angelina knew that the picnic in paradise was over when she saw me oiling up the needle guns.
"Start packing things away, boys," she said. "We'll be leaving soon,"
After that it was just a matter of steady driving. Flavia's father had been an agricultural inspector and her early years had been spent traveling with him all over the interior. She knew it well. This enabled her to lead us by mountain tracks, along the escarpment and up through the foothills, staying

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away from farms and towns as much as possible. We passed the occasional smallholding or wood-cutting party, but little else. When we finally dropped down to the central plateau

we were already within sight of our goal.
"There," she announced, "the terrain of the Marquez de la Rosa."
"Where?" I asked, gazing out at the horizon-to-horizon

expanse of copse and field, hill and forest.
"Everywhere. It's all his. Hundreds of thousands of hect-

ares. The nobility are feudal lords on Paraiso-Aqui, the main reason why Zapilote succeeded in his democratic revolution. While many of hereditary aristocracy are immensely cruel to the peasantry, the marquez is one of the few exceptions. Which is why it is so important to enlist him on our side," "Consider that done," I told her. "I'm the last of the big-time recruiting sergeants. Bolivar, kindly stop here, before we reach the entrance."
Impressive stone tiers stood before us on both sides of the road, the pair of them surmounted with an ornate arch deeply

graven with a noble coat of arms. The shield was full of quarterings, an interesting bar sinister which hinted at lusty ancestry, plus plenty of griffins, lions and other heraldic beasts. I dug deep into the refrigerator and took out the ice bucket. It had a false bottom with even more ice concealed beneath.
"For you, my jewel," I said to Angelina, slipping a 400-carat diamond ring onto her finger. She made appreciative gasping noises which accelerated when I passed over the matching necklace. "A few items I have been saving for the right occasion." "They're gorgeous!"
"Like to like. And a bauble or two for myself to impress

our host. " Such as a ring with a ruby the size of a bird's egg, with matching ruby-studded band for my hat. The twins clapped appreciatively and Flavia could only stare in shocked silence. I hoped the marquez would be as impressed as well.
"Onward to meet our destiny!" I ordered, and we rolled elegantly through the gates.
The smooth road wound up through green meadows, which gradually gave way to a series of ornate gardens. A last swoop through flower-hung trees opened out into a vista of parkland set with fountains, before a last bend of the road that ended before the house. Or mansion- castle whatever. Most ininras-

60 The Stainless Steel Rat for President

sive, if a little gaudy. Turrets, pillars, mullions, towers, acres of windows and rows of crenellation. An ornately dressed figure appeared through the open front doors, and stood awaiting our arrival with great dignity. "The marqu6z?" I asked, greatly impressed.
"His butler," Flavia said. "Give him your name, and titleЧ if you have one. "
Do I have one! A dozen, or more, as many as my fertile imagination can invent. I thought swiftly as James opened the car door, then stalked forth to meet the butler who had descended the stairs to meet me.
"I presume this is the residence of his excellency Gonzales de Torres the MarquBz de la'RosaP" "It is - . ."
"Good. I was concerned that I had the address right. One castle looks so much like another. Kindly convey to your master the good tidings that the Duke of diGriz is here with his retinue."
"Thank you, thank you. Follow me if you please." As he ushered us inside he whispered to another flunky who hurried away. We paced through cool corridors, sinking deep into the pile of priceless carpets, to a pair of great wooden doors, which he threw open with a grand gesture while announcing me in a stentorian voice. Head high I swept by.
The marquez came forward, hand extended. A handsome

man with just a touch of gray at his noble temples, lithe and strong with an athlete's walk. I took the preferred hand and bowed slightly.
"Welcome, Duke, welcome," he said with some sincerity. "Jim, if you please, on my world we are most informal." "Of course, most intelligent. Then you are not of this planet? May I congratulate you on your perfect command of

our language. I thought your title was an unfamiliar one." "Yours however is known across the civilized galaxy. I would not have burst in on you like this had I not been encouraged by one of your relatives who gave me this letter of introduction. "
I passed over the note from Jorge, which put the final stamp of approval on our visit. Introductions were made all around, including to the marqueza, who made her appear-

ance, her jewelry not half as impressive as Angelina's I was happy to note. When the others cleared out de Torres, as he

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insisted I call him, and I settled down with a great flask of excellent wine. I got right to the point.
"I assume that you know that your third cousin four times removed is part of the resistance movement?"
"I didn't know it but it gives me great pleasure to hear that Jorge is working against that monster Zapilote, that degenerate piece of offal that . . ."