"Laumer, Keith - Retief's Peace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Laumer Keith)

Retief glanced along the length of the native's bodyЧstocky, massive, four-armed, and with a heavy,
segmented abdomen supported by eight stubby legs. "It's something we Terries do when two legs aren't
enough. We kind of fold over in the middle to redistribute the ground pressure."

The local nodded sagely. "I get it. Like the Holy Mystic Fortune Cookies say, it's a poor grullard what
can't hold his drollops."

"You just might have something there, friend," Retief said, exhaling a stream of hyacinth-scented smoke.
"I'm not certain what, exactly, but I think youdo have something."

A particularly boisterous knot of students tromped down the broad avenue opposite Retief's vantage
point, chanting with considerable fervor.

"Peace! Peace! We want peace!
"Peace! Peace! We want peace!
"Peace! Peace! We want peace!"а

"I just wonder," the local said slowly, "what it is they want a piece of."

"Ambassador Crapwell's hide, possibly," Retief said judiciously. "Or possibly they'd settle for a piece of
the hide of the military attachщ. But they're definitely interested in getting their message across to the Terry

Embassy."

"I guess mebee they don't like th' way your war's goin' out on Odiousita."

"They don't like the fact that the war is going at all. And in that, I don't blame them one bit. Still, though .

. . I wonder . . ."

"Whatcha wonder, Terry?"

"I'm just having a little trouble believing thatall of these protesters are from USC."

A number of hand-lettered signs were in evidence, wielded overhead like blunt weapons. "Hands off

Odiousita V!" one read. "Have sex, not a kitten," another proclaimed. "The Krll are friends we just
haven't met yet!" declared a third.

"Hey, you read Terry words, right?" the local said, nudging Retief's side.

"Occasionally."

"That sign there, the big one . . . does it say what I think it does? Somethin' about the Krll bein' our
friends?"


"Words paraphrased directly from the Preface to the CDT Embassy Manual," Retief told him. "The 85th
Edition, Revised, Annotated, and Expurgated, to be precise."
"Yeah? What's that?"