"Andre Norton - Dark Piper" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

certified ships. But that enclosure vanished with the end of the war. The truth was that the sector
settlements occupied so little of the continental masses that we were not even a true pioneer world, in
spite of the permanence of the hamlets that radiated from the port. The whole eastern land mass was
empty of any colonization at all.
Did the old restrictions still prevail? And if they did notтАФwas the welcome signal out for any flotsam
of the war? I thought of LugardтАЩs dire prophecy that wolves ranged or would range the star lanesтАФthat
those without defenses could be looted, or even taken over. And would these men now conferring with
Ahren think of that possibility? I believed not.
I picked up a platter of dunk bread and took it to the long table. Servo-robos were long gone now,
save for a few in the labs. We had returned to the early state of our species and used our two hands, our
feet, and the strength of our backs to work. Annet was a good cookтАФI relished what came out of her
pots and pans more than the food at the port, which was still running by robo. The appetizing odor of the
dunk bread made me realize it had been a long time since noon and that my port meal had been even less
satisfactory than usual. When I returned for a tray of dunk bowls, she was looking out of the window.
тАЬWhere did you get the hopper?тАЭ
тАЬPortside. I had a passenger into the outback.тАЭ
She looked at me in surprise. тАЬOutback! But whoтАФ?тАЭ
тАЬGriss Lugard. He wanted to go to Butte Hold. Came in on the tramp.тАЭ
тАЬGriss LugardтАФwho is he?тАЭ
тАЬHe served with my father. Used to command at Butte Hold before the war.тАЭ тАЬBefore the warтАЭ was
even more remote to her than to me. She had hardly been out of a sector cr├иche when the first news of
the conflict had come to us. And I doubted if she could remember the time before.
тАЬWhat did he come for? He isтАФwasтАФa soldier, wasnтАЩt he?тАЭ Soldiers, men who made fighting their
profession, were as legendary on Beltane now as any of the fantastical creatures on the story tapes of the
young.
тАЬHe was born here. He was given the holdтАФтАЭ
тАЬYou mean there are going to be soldiers here again? But the war is over. FatherтАФthe
CommitteeтАФthey will protest that! You know the First LawтАФтАЭ I knew the First LawтАФhow could I
escape it? It had been dinned into my ears, and supposedly my head, long enough. тАЬWar is waste; there
is no conflict that cannot be resolved by men of patience, intelligence, and good will meeting openly in
communication.тАЭ
тАЬNo, heтАЩs alone. He is no longer with the forces. HeтАЩs been badly wounded.тАЭ тАЬHe must be wit-addled
tooтАЭтАФshe began ladling the stew into the waiting tureenтАФтАЬif he plans to live out in that wasteland.тАЭ
тАЬWhoтАЩs going to live in the wasteland?тАЭ Gytha bobbed up, a collection of bowl spoons in her
suntanned hands.
тАЬA man named Griss Lugard.тАЭ
тАЬGriss LugardтАФoh, Second-Commandant Lugard.тАЭ She surprised me as she was so often able to do
to all of us. Her mouth curved in a smile at our astonishment, and her two side braids of hair swung as
she nodded vigorously. тАЬI can read, canтАЩt I? DonтАЩt I? Well, I read more than story tapes. I read
historyтАФBeltane history. ItтАЩs all in the old news tapes. And thereтАЩs more, too. All about how
Second-Commandant Griss Lugard brought artifacts from the lava cavesтАФthat he found Forerunner
things there. They were going to send someone here from Prime Center to seeтАФthen the war came. And
nobody ever came. I read a lot of tapes to find out if they did. I bet heтАЩs come back to look for
treasureтАФForerunner treasure! Vere, couldnтАЩt we go out and help him look?тАЭ тАЬForerunner artifacts?тАЭ If
Gytha said she had read it in the news tapes, it had been there. In such matters she made no mistakes.
But I had never heard of any Forerunner remains on Beltane.
When our kind had first broken out of the solar system that had nourished our species, we soon
learned that we were not unique in our discovery of the worlds of far space. We met others already free
of the lanes between system and system. And, as the galaxy counted time, they, too, were newcomers,
though they were centuries in advance of our own first timid star steps. Yet there were those who had