"Harry Harrison - SSR 09 - The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to He" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

I sat on the divan and the television came on. It was a news program with no news I wanted
to hear. "Sports," I said and a high speed balloon race replaced it. The bar served me a glass of
champagne just as James appeared.
"Wow!" he admired. "Real gold?"
"Of course. As well as diamond headlamps and a prescription windshield. No expense
spared."
"Where to?" he asked, sipping his drink.
"Vivilia VonBrun is first on the list. On anyone's list I imagine. Incredibly rich,
desirably attractive. I phoned and she awaits our pleasure."
She swept out to greet us, smiling compassionately. She had permitted a tiny rim of red to
remain around her gorgeous eyes, to express her unhappiness at recent events. Which of course had
been described in gruesome detail by the news programs.
She was wearing something diaphanous and gray, which revealed enticing glimpses of tanned
skin when she moved. She looked too good to be true, twenty-five years old, going on twenty-six
maybe, and she was. Too good to be true, that is. I didn't dare think of her real age; the number
was too large. She extended a delicate hand to me; I took it and kissed it lightly about the
knuckles.
"Poor, dear Jim," she sighed. "Such a tragedy."
"It will all end well. May I present my son, James."
"What a dear man. How nice of you to come. My husband, Waldo, is away on one of those
boring hunting things, blowing up wild animals. So if you need a place to stay..."
Vivilia wasted no time. While Waldo was destroying robot predators she was doing a
little predation herself. And she was probably old enough to be James's great-great-grandmother.
Which meant she certainly had some experience-I put the thought from me and got to work.
"Vivilia, you can help us find Angelina. You are going to tell us everything you


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know about the Temple of Eternal Truth."
"You are so forceful, Jimmy. I'm sure that your son takes after..."
"Facts first, lust later," I snapped.
"Coarse but to the point," she smiled, uninsultable. "I'll tell you everything
that I know."
Enjoyable as that prospect was it would have taken far too long. I kept her memoirs to
the point. A very interesting point as it turned out to be.
With boredom at Olympic intensity on Lussuoso, sports, escapism and cult religions were
going concerns. Master Fanyimadu had begun to appear at various soirees and parties, his
fascinating beliefs excelled only by the intensity of his gaze.
Ladies of leisure looked in on the Temple of Eternal Truth and most went back a second
time. It was easy to see why. Vivilia explained. "It wasn't so much the consolation of his
religion as the positive promise of eternal bliss. Not that he doesn't preach a good sermon, mind
you, better than TV any day. It is what his sermons are all about. He tells you that if one
attends often enough and prays with great intensity, as well as donating enthusiastically, one
might get a little look-in on Heaven."
"Heaven?" I asked, trying to remember some rudimentary theology.
"Heaven, of course, you must have heard of it? Or perhaps your religion..."
"Dad's an atheist," James said. "We all are."
Vivilia sniffed meaningfully. "Well, I suppose most people are in this age of realism and