"Fritz Leiber - The Number of the Beast" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leiber Fritz)

Next.тАЭ

тАЬHlilav the Antarean multibrach. Kept gently waving his tentacles all through the interrogationтАФI thought
he was trying to hypnotize me! Then it occurred to me he might be talking in code, but the interpreter said
no. At the end, h& gives a long insulting whistle, like some shameless swish. Whistle didnтАЩt signify
anything either, the inter-preter said, beyond a polite wish for my serenity.

тАЬThird customer was Fa the Rigelian composite. Took off a limbтАФreal, of course, not artificialтАФand
kept fid-dling with it while I shot questions at him. I could hardly keep my mind on what I was
sayingтАФexpected bun to take his head off next! He did that too, just as he started back to his cell.тАЭ

тАЬTelepaths can surely be exasperating,тАЭ the Old Lieu-tenant agreed. тАЬI always had great trouble in
keeping in mind what a boring business a vocal interview must be to themтАФvery much as if a man, quite
capable of speech, should insist on using a pencil and paper to conduct a conversation with you, with
perhaps the -further proviso ,that you print your remarks stylishly. Your fourth sus-pect, Jim?тАЭ

тАЬHrohrakak the Polarian centipedal. He reared up in a great question-mark bend when I addressed
himтАФlooked very much like a giant cobra covered with thick black fur. Kept chattering to himself too,
very lowтАФinterpreter said he was saying over and over again, тАШOh, All-father, when will this burden be
lifted from me?тАЩ Halfway through, he readies out a little black limb to Donovan to give him what looks
like a pretty pink billiard ball.тАЭ тАЬOh, naughty, naughty,тАЭ the Old Leiutenant observed, shaking his head
while he smiled. тАЬSo these are your four suspects, Jim? The four rather gaudy racehorses of whom you
must back one?тАЭ

тАЬThey are. Each of them had opportunity. Each of them has a criminal reputation and might well have
been hired to do the murderтАФeither by extremists in the Arcturian war party or by some other alien
organization hostile to EarthтАФsuch as the League of the Beasts with its pseudo-religious mumbo-jumbo.тАЭ

тАЬI donтАЩt agree with you about the League, but donтАЩt for-get our own bloody-minded extremists,тАЭ the
Old Lieu-tenant reminded him. тАЬThere are devils among us too, Jim.тАЭ

тАЬTrue, Sean. But whoever paid for this crime, any one of the four might have been his agent. For to
complete the problem and tie it up in a Gordian knot a yard thick, each one of my suspects has recently
and untraceably received a large sum of moneyтАФenough so that, in each case, it might well have paid for
murder.тАЭ

Leaning forward the Old Lieutenant said, тАЬSo? Tell me about that, Jim.тАЭ

тАЬWell, you know the saying that the price of a beingтАЩs

fife anywhere in the Galaxy is one thousand of whatever

happens to be the going unit of big money. And as you

know, itтАЩs not too bad a rule of thumb. In this case, the
unit is gold martians, which are neither gold nor backed

by MarтАЩs bitter little bureaucracy, butтАФтАЬ

тАЬI know! YouтАЩve only minutes left, Jim. What were fee exact amounts?тАЭ .