"George R. R. Martin - Manna From Heaven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin George R R)

Tolly Mune suddenly felt as though sheтАЩd been assaulted. Her mouth gaped open. тАЬAre you...Tuf, are
you threatening us? I donтАЩt believe it. Are you threatening to use the Ark against SтАЩuthlam?тАЭ
тАЬI am merely bringing certain possibilities to your attention,тАЭ said Haviland Tuf, his voice as flat as ever.
Dax must have sensed her rage; he hissed. Tolly Mune stood helplessly, bewildered. Her hands balled
into fists.
тАЬI will charge no fee for my labors as mediator and ecological engineer,тАЭ Tuf announced. тАЬYet I will
require certain safeguards and concessions from both parties to our agreement. The allied worlds will
furnish me with a bodyguard, so to speakтАФa small fleet of warships, sufficient in number and weaponry
to stave off any attacks upon the Ark from the Planetary Defense Flotilla of SтАЩuthlam and to escort me
safely out of the system when my task here is done. The SтАЩuthlamese, for their part, will agree to allow
this allied fleet into their home system in order that my fears may be laid to rest. Should either side initiate
hostilities during the period of the armistice, they will do so in full knowledge that this will surely provoke
me to a most awful fit of wrath. I am not overly excitable, but when my anger is indeed aroused, I
ofttimes frighten even myself. Once a standard year has passed, I shall be long departed and you may
feel yourself free to resume your mutual slaughter, if you so choose. Yet it is my hope, and my prediction,
that this time the steps I am initiating will prove so efficacious that none of you will feel compelled to
resume hostilities.тАЭ He stroked DaxтАЩs thick black fur, and the tomcat regarded each of them in turn with
his huge golden eyes, seeing, weighing.
Tolly Mune felt cold all over. тАЬYou are imposing peace on us,тАЭ she said.
тАЬAlbeit temporarily,тАЭ said Tuf.
тАЬAnd you are imposing this solution, whether we want it or not,тАЭ she said.
Tuf looked at her, but did not reply.
тАЬJust who the goddamned puling hell do you think you are?тАЭ she screamed at him, unleashing the fury
that had been swelling inside her.
тАЬI am Haviland Tuf,тАЭ he said evenly, тАЬand I have run out of patience with SтАЩuthlam and the SтАЩuthlamese,
madam.тАЭ


After the conference was over, Tuf drove the ambassadors back to their diplomatic shuttle, but Tolly
Mune refused to go along.
For long hours, she roamed the Ark alone, cold, tired, yet relentless. She called out as she went.
тАЬBlackjack!тАЭ she shouted, from the top of the moving staircases. тАЬHere, Blacky, here,тАЭ she sang as she
strode through the corridors. тАЬJack!тАЭ she cried when she heard a noise around a corner, but it was only a
door opening or closing, the whirr of some machine repairing itself, or perhaps the scurrying of some
stranger cat, some familiar of TufтАЩs. тАЬBlaaaaackjaaaaaaaaack!тАЭ she shouted at intersections where a
dozen corridors crossed, and her voice boomed and rattled off his distant walls and echoed back at her.
But she did not find her cat.
Finally her wanderings took her up several decks, and she emerged in the dimly lit central shaft that cored
the vast seedshipтАФtowering, echoing immensity thirty kilometers long, its ceiling lost in shadows, its wall
lined by cloning vats large and small. She chose a direction at random and walked, and walked, and
walked, calling out BlackjackтАЩs name.
From somewhere ahead she heard a small, uncertain meow.
тАЬBlackjack?тАЭ she called. тАЬWhere are you?тАЭ
Again she heard it. Up there, ahead. She took two hurried steps forward, and began to run.
Haviland Tuf stepped out from beneath the shadow of a plasteel tank twenty meters high; Blackjack was
cradled in his arms, purring.
Tolly Mune stopped dead.
тАЬI have located your cat,тАЭ said Tuf.
тАЬI can see that,тАЭ she said coldly.
Tuf handed the huge gray tomcat to her gently, his hands brushing against her arms as he made the