"Frank Herbert - Old Rambling House" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

from him - a sense of untouchable hauteur.
He glanced around the room, spoke in the same tongue the Rushes had used.
Ted Graham said, 'I don't understand you, mister.'
The man put a hand to his nickering belt. Both Ted and Martha Graham felt themselves
rooted to the floor, a tingling sensation vibrating along every nerve.
Again the strange language rolled from the man's tongue, but now the words were
understood.
'Who are you?'
'My name's Graham. This is my wife. What's going - '
'How did you get here?'
'The Rushes - they wanted to trade us this house for our trailer. They brought us. Now
look, we -'
'What is your talent - your occupation?'
'Tax accountant. Say! Why all these -'
'That was to be expected,' said the man. 'Clever! Oh, excessively clever!' His hand moved
again to the belt. 'Now be very quiet. This may confuse you momentarily.'
Colored lights filled both the Grahams' minds. They staggered.
'You are qualified,' said the man. 'You will serve.'
'Where are we?' demanded Martha Graham.
'The coordinates would not be intelligible to you,' he said. 'I am of the Rojac. It is sufficient
for you to know that you are under Rojac sovereignty.'


Ted Graham said, 'But -'
'You have, in a way, been kidnapped. And the Raimees have fled to your planet - an
unregistered planet.'
'I'm afraid,' Martha Graham said shakily.
'You have nothing to fear,' said the man. 'You are no longer on the planet of your birth -
nor even in the same galaxy.' He glanced at Ted Graham's wrist. 'That device on your wrist -
it tells your local time?'
'Yes.'
'That will help in the search. And your sun - can you describe its atomic cycle?'
 Ted Graham groped in his mind for his science memories from school, from the Sunday
supplements. 'I can recall that our galaxy is a spiral like -'
'Most galaxies are spiral.'
'Is this some kind of a practical joke?' asked Ted Graham.
The man smiled, a cold, superior smile. 'It is no joke. Now I will make you a proposition.'
Ted nodded warily. 'All right, let's have the stinger.'
'The people who brought you here were tax collectors we Rojac recruited from a subject
planet. They were conditioned to make it impossible for them to leave their job untended.
Unfortunately, they were clever enough to realize that if they brought someone else in who
could do their job, they were released from their mental bonds. Very clever.'
'But-'
'You may have their job,' said the man. 'Normally, you would be put to work in the lower
echelons, but we believe in meting out justice wherever possible. The Raimees undoubtedly
stumbled on your planet by accident and lured you into this position without -'
'How do you know I can do your job?'
'That moment of brilliance was an aptitude test. You passed. Well, do you accept?'
'What about our baby?' Martha Graham worriedly wanted to know.
'You will be allowed to keep it until it reaches the age of decision - about the time it will