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

purple.
Tolly Mune slid awkwardly into the seat beside Tuf. тАЬHeтАЩs telepathic, too,тАЭ she said cheerfully, тАЬjust like
yours.тАЭ
тАЬIndeed,тАЭ said Haviland Tuf. Dax was stiff and angry in his lap. He hissed again.
тАЬJack here was the way I saved the other cats,тАЭ Tolly Mune said. Her homely face took on a look of
reproach. тАЬYou said you were leaving me five years of catfood.тАЭ
тАЬFor two cats, madam,тАЭ said Tuf. тАЬObviously, sixteen animals consume more than Doubt and Ingratitude
alone.тАЭ Dax edged closer, bared his teeth, bristled.
тАЬI had problems when the stuff ran out. Given our food shortfalls, I had to justify wasting calories on
vermin.тАЭ
тАЬPerhaps you might have considered steps to limit your feline reproduction,тАЭ Tuf said. тАЬSuch a strategy
would undoubtedly have yielded results. Thus your home could have served as an educational and
sobering illustration of SтАЩuthlamese problems, in microcosm as it were, and the solutions thereof.тАЭ
тАЬSterilization?тАЭ Tolly Mune said. тАЬThatтАЩs anti-life, Tuf. Out. I had a better idea. I described Dax to certain
friendsтАФbiotechs, cybertechs, you knowтАФand they made me a familiar of my own, worked up from
cells taken from Ingratitude.тАЭ
тАЬHow appropriate,тАЭ said Tuf.
She smiled. тАЬBlackjackтАЩs almost two years old. HeтАЩs been so useful IтАЩve been given a food allowance for
the others. HeтАЩs helped my political career no end, too.тАЭ
тАЬI have no doubt,тАЭ said Tuf. тАЬI note that he does not appear discomfitted by gravity.тАЭ
тАЬNot Blackjack. These days they need me downstairs a hell of a lot more than IтАЩd like, and Jack goes
with me. Everywhere.тАЭ
Dax hissed again, and made a low nimbly threatening sound. He darted toward Blackjack, then drew
back suddenly and spit disdain at the larger cat.
тАЬYou better call him off, Tuf,тАЭ Tolly Mune said.
тАЬFelines sometimes demonstrate a biological compulsion to battle in order to establish deference
rankings,тАЭ Tuf said. тАЬThis is particularly true of tomcats. Dax, undoubtedly aided and abetted by his
enhanced psionic capabilities, long ago established his supremacy over Chaos and my other cats.
Undoubtedly he now feels his position threatened. It is not a matter for serious concern, First Councillor
Mune.тАЭ
тАЬIt is for Dax,тАЭ she said, as the black tom crept closer. Blackjack, in her lap, looked up at his rival with
vast boredom.
тАЬI fail to grasp your point,тАЭ said Tuf.
тАЬBlackjack has those enhanced psionic capabilities, too,тАЭ said Tolly Mune. тАЬPlus a few other, ah,
advantages. Implanted duralloy claws, sharp as goddamned razors, concealed in special paw sheaths. A
subcutaneous net of nonallogenic plasteel mesh that makes him awfully tough to hurt. Reflexes that have
been genetically accelerated to make him twice as quick and dextrous as a normal cat. A very high pain
threshold. I donтАЩt want to be puling crass about it or anything, but if he gets jumped, Blackjack will slice
Dax into little bloody hairballs.тАЭ
Haviland Tuf blinked, and shoved the steering stick over toward Tolly Mune. тАЬPerhaps it might be best if
you drove.тАЭ He reached out, picked up his angry black tomcat by the ruff of the neck, and deposited
him, screeching and spitting, in his lap, where he held him very still indeed. тАЬProceed in that direction,тАЭ he
said, pointing with a long pale finger.


тАЬIt appears,тАЭ said Haviland Tuf, steepling his fingers as he regarded her from the depths of a huge
wingback armchair, тАЬthat circumstances have altered somewhat since I last came to call upon SтАЩuthlam.тАЭ
Tolly Mune studied him carefully. His paunch was larger than it had been, and his long face was just as
miserly of expression, but without Dax in his lap, Haviland Tuf looked almost naked. Tuf had shut the big
black tom up on a lower deck to keep him away from Blackjack. Since the ancient seedship was thirty