"C M Kornbluth - That Share Of Glory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kornbluth C M)

That Share of Glory



C. M. Kornbluth




That Share of Glory



YOUNG ALEN, one of a thousand in the huge refectory, ate absent-mindedly as the reader droned into
the perfect silence of the hall. Today's lesson happened to be a word-list of the Thetis VIII planet's
sea-going folk.



"TlonтАФa ship," droned the reader.
"RtloтАФsome ships, number unknown.



"Long'тАФsome ships, number known, always modified by cardinal.



"OngrтАФa ship in a collection of ships, always modified by ordinal.



"NgrtтАФfirst ship in a collection of ships; an exception to ongr."



A lay brother tiptoed to Alen's side. "The Rector summons you," he whispered.



Alen had no time for panic, though that was the usual reaction to a summons from the Rector to a
novice. He slipped from the refectory, stepped onto the northbound corridor and stepped off at his cell, a
minute later and a quarter-mile farther on. Hastily, but meticulously, he changed from his drab habit to the
heraldic robes in the cubicle with its simple stool, wash-stand, desk, and paperweight or two. Alen, a
level-headed young fellow, was not aware that he had broken any section of the Order's complicated
Rule, but he was aware that he could have done so without knowing it. It might, he thought, be the last
time he would see the cell.