"Tuf Voyaging - 07 - Manna From Heaven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin George R R)

УI wait with sullen resignation,Ф said Tuf, unmoving.
УYou have twenty seconds,Ф Ober said.
УI fear my news has confused you. The count previously stood at three. Nonetheless, I shall take shameless advantage of your error and savor each instant remaining to me.Ф
They stared at each other, face to face and screen to screen, for the longest time. Snug in TufТs lap, Dax began to purr. Haviland Tuf reached down to stroke the catТs long black fur. Dax purred even more loudly and began kneading TufТs knee with his claws.
УOh, abort it to hell and gone,Ф said Wald Ober. He pointed at the screen. УYou may have us checked for the moment, but I warn you, Tuf, donТt even think about trying to get away. Dead or fled, your cell library would be equally lost to us. And given a choice IТd sooner you be dead.Ф
УI comprehend your position,Ф said Haviland Tuf, Уthough I, of course, would sooner be fled. Yet I do have a debt to pay to the Port of SТuthlam, and therefore could not honorably depart as you fear, so please accept my assurances that you will have every opportunity to ponder my visage, and I your fearsome mask, while we sit locked in this irksome impasse.Ф
Wald Ober never got the chance to reply. His battle mask vanished abruptly from the screen, and was replaced by a womanТs homely features-a broad crooked mouth, a nose that had been broken more than once, hard leathery skin with the deep blue-black cast that comes from lots of exposure to hard radiation and decades of anti-carcinoma pills, pale bright eyes in a nest of squint-folds, all of it surrounded by a lavish halo of coarse gray hair. УSo much for getting tough,Ф she said. УYou win, Tuf. Ober, youТre now an honor guard. Form up and escort him into the web, damn it.Ф
УHow thoughtful,Ф said Haviland Tuf. УI am pleased to inform you that I am now prepared to tender the final payment due the Port of SТuthlam for the refitting of the Ark.Ф
УI hope you brought some catfood, too,Ф Tolly Mune said drily. УThat so-called Сfive-year supplyТ you left me ran out almost two years ago.Ф She signed. УI donТt suppose youТd care to retire and sell us the Ark.Ф
УIndeed not,Ф said Tuf.
УI didnТt think so. All right, Tuf, break out the beer, IТm coming to talk to you as soon as you reach the web.Ф
УWhile I mean no disrespect, I must confess that I am not at the moment in the best frame of mind for entertaining such a distinguished guest as yourself. Commander Ober has recently informed me that I have been adjudged a criminal and heretic, a curious conception, as I am neither a citizen of SТuthlam nor an adherent to its dominant religion, but no less disquieting for all that. I am agog with fear and worry.Ф
УOh, that,Ф she said. УJust an empty formality.Ф
УIndeed,Ф Tuf said.
УPuling hell, Tuf, if weТre going to steal your ship we need a good legal excuse, donТt we? WeТre a goddamned government. WeТre allowed to steal the things we want as long as we put a shiny legal gloss over it.Ф
УSeldom in my voyaging have I encountered any political functionary as frank as yourself, it must be admitted. The experience is refreshing. Still, as invigorated as I am, what assurance do I have that you will not continue your efforts to seize the Ark once aboard?Ф
УWho, me?Ф said Tolly Mune. УNow how could I do a thing like that? DonТt worry, IТll come alone.Ф She smiled. УWell, almost alone. YouТd have no objections if I brought a cat, would you?Ф
УCertainly not,Ф said Tuf. УI am pleased to learn that the felines I left in your custody have thrived in my absence. I shall eagerly anticipate your arrival, Portmaster Mune.Ф
УThatТs First Councillor Mune to you, Tuf,Ф she said, gruffly, before she wiped the screen.

No one had ever alleged that Haviland Tuf was overly rash; he took up a position twelve kilometers beyond the end of one of the great docking spurs of the orbital community known as the Port of SТuthlam, and he kept his shields up continuously as he waited. Tolly Mune rode out to meet him in the small starship Tuf had given her five years before, on the occasion of his previous visit to SТuthlam.
Tuf opened the shields to let her through, and cracked the great dome on the landing deck so she might set down. ArkТs instrumentation indicated her ship was full of lifeforms, only one of which was human; the rest displayed feline parameters. Tuf set out to meet her, driving a three-wheeled cart with balloon tires, and wearing a deep-green mock-velvet suit belted about his ample middle. On his head was a battered green duckbilled cap decorated with the golden theta of the Ecological Engineering Corps. Dax rode with him, an indolent sprawl of black fur draped across TufТs broad knees.
When the airlock opened, Tuf drove with all deliberate speed through the scrapyard of battered spacecraft that he had somehow accumulated over the years, directly to where Tolly Mune, former Portmaster of SТuthlam, was thumping down the ramp of her ship.
A cat walked at her side.
Dax was on his feet in an instant, his dark fur bristling as if his huge, flurry tail had just been plugged into an electric socket. His customary lethargy was suddenly gone; he leapt from TufТs lap to the hood of the cart, drew back his ears, and hissed.
УWhy, Dax,Ф Tolly Mune said, Уis that any way to greet a goddamned relative?Ф She grinned, and knelt to pet the huge animal by her side.
УI had expected either Ingratitude or Doubt,Ф said Haviland Tuf.
УOh, theyТre fine,Ф she said. УAnd so are all their goddamned offspring. Several generationsТ worth. I should have figured it when you gave me a pair. A fertile male and female. IТve gotа.а.а.Ф she frowned, and counted quickly on her fingers, once through and then again. У.а.а.аletТs see, sixteen, I think. Yes. And two pregnant.Ф She jerked a thumb at the starship behind her. УMy ship has turned into one big cat-house. Most of them donТt care any more for gravity than I do. Born and raised in zero gee. IТll never understand how they can be so graceful one moment and so hilariously clumsy the next.Ф
УThe feline heritage is rife with contradiction,Ф said Tuf.
УThis is Blackjack.Ф She picked him up in her arms and rose to her feet. УDamn, heТs heavy. You never realize that in zero gee.Ф
Dax stared at the other feline, and hissed.
Blackjack, cradled against the chest of Tolly MuneТs old, smelly skinthins, looked down at the huge black tom with disinterested haughtiness.
Haviland Tuf stood two-and-a-half meters tall, with bulk to match, and Dax was just as large, compared to other cats, as Tuf was, compared to other men.
Blackjack was larger.
His hair was long and silky, smoky gray on top, with a lighter silver undercoat. His eyes were silver-gray as well, vast deep pools, serene and somehow eerie. He was the most incredibly beautiful animal ever to dwell in the expanding universe, and he knew it. His manner was that of a princeling born to the royal purple.
Tolly Mune slid awkwardly into the seat beside Tuf. УHeТs telepathic, too,Ф she said cheerfully, Уjust like yours.Ф
УIndeed,Ф said Haviland Tuf. Dax was stiff and angry in his lap. He hissed again.
УJack here was the way I saved the other cats,Ф Tolly Mune said. Her homely face took on a look of reproach. УYou said you were leaving me five years of catfood.Ф
УFor two cats, madam,Ф said Tuf. УObviously, sixteen animals consume more than Doubt and Ingratitude alone.Ф Dax edged closer, bared his teeth, bristled.
УI had problems when the stuff ran out. Given our food shortfalls, I had to justify wasting calories on vermin.Ф
УPerhaps you might have considered steps to limit your feline reproduction,Ф Tuf said. УSuch a strategy would undoubtedly have yielded results. Thus your home could have served as an educational and sobering illustration of SТuthlamese problems, in microcosm as it were, and the solutions thereof.Ф
УSterilization?Ф Tolly Mune said. УThatТs anti-life, Tuf. Out. I had a better idea. I described Dax to certain friendsЧbiotechs, cybertechs, you knowЧand they made me a familiar of my own, worked up from cells taken from Ingratitude.Ф
УHow appropriate,Ф said Tuf.
She smiled. УBlackjackТs almost two years old. HeТs been so useful IТve been given a food allowance for the others. HeТs helped my political career no end, too.Ф
УI have no doubt,Ф said Tuf. УI note that he does not appear discomfitted by gravity.Ф
УNot Blackjack. These days they need me downstairs a hell of a lot more than IТd like, and Jack goes with me. Everywhere.Ф
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.
УYou better call him off, Tuf,Ф Tolly Mune said.
УFelines sometimes demonstrate a biological compulsion to battle in order to establish deference rankings,Ф Tuf said. УThis 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.Ф
УIt is for Dax,Ф she said, as the black tom crept closer. Blackjack, in her lap, looked up at his rival with vast boredom.