"Andre Norton - Jern Murdock 02 - Uncharted Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

winked out of being. "Take a pookha into the Off-port?"He was right as ever.
Pookhas alive were worth more than their weight incredits. To carry one into
the Off-port would be to welcome a stun ray, iflucky, a laser burn if not,
with Eet popped into a bag and off to someblack-market dealer. I was angry
with myself for having made such a displayof nonthinking, though it was
due to the need for concentration onmaintaining the scar."You must hold
it, yes, but not with your whole mind," Eet said. "You havevery much to
learn."I held. Under my eyes Eet changed. The pookha dissolved, vanished as
thoughit were an outer husk of plasta meeting the cold of space and so
shatteringinto bits too tiny for the human eye to see. Now he was Eet again,
but asunusual to the observer as the pookha had been."Just so," he agreed.
"But I shall not be observed. I need not change. Itwill simply be a matter
of not allowing the eye to light on me.""As you did with my face, coming
here?""Yes. And the dark will aid. We'll head straight for the Diving
Lokworm--""Why?"One of my own species might have given an exaggerated sigh of
annoyance. Themental sensation which emanated from my companion was not
audible but it hadthe same meaning."The Diving Lokworm is a possible meeting
place for the type of pilot wemust find. And you need not waste time asking
me how I know that. It is thetruth."How much Eet could pick out of nearby
minds I did not know; I thought that Idid not want to know. But his certainty
now convinced me that he had someconcrete lead. And I could not argue when
I had nothing of my own to offerin return. He made one of his sudden leaps to
my shoulder and there arrangedhimself in his favorite riding position, curled
about my neck as if he werean inanimate roll of fur. I gave a last look into
the mirror, to reassuremyself that my creation was as solid-seeming as
ever, and knew a spark oftriumph when I saw that it was, even though I
might later have to dependupon Eet to maintain it. So prepared, we went
out and took the main crawlwalk toward the port, ready to drop off at the
first turn which led to themurk of the Off-port. It was dusk, the clouds
spreading like smoke across adark-green sky in which the first of Theba's
moons pricked as a single jewelof light. But the Off-port was awake as we
entered it by the side way.Garish signs, not in any one language (though
Basic was the main tonguehere), formed the symbols, legible to spacemen of
many species and races,which advertised the particular wares or strange
delights offered within.Many of them were a medley of colors meant to
attract nonhuman races, andso, hurtful to our organs of vision. Thus one was
better advised not to lookabove street level. There was also such a blare of
noise as was enough todeafen the passerby, and scents to make one long for
the protection of aspace suit which could be set to shut out the clamor and
provide breathable,filtered air. To come into this maze was to believe one had
been decanted onanother world, not only dangerous but inhospitable. How I was
to find Eet'sDiving Lokworm in this pool of confusion was a problem I saw
no way ofsolving. And to wander, deafened and half asphyxiated, through the
streetsand lanes was to ask for disaster. I had no belted weapon and I was
carryinga flight bag, so perhaps ten or more pairs of eyes had already
marked medown as possible prey for a port-side rolling."Right here--" Eet's
thought made as clean a cut as a force blade might makethrough the muddle of
my mind.Right I turned, out of the stridence of the main street, into a small,
verysmall, lessening of the clamor, with a fraction less light, and perhaps
oneor two breaths now and then of real air. And Eet seemed to know where