"Chad Oliver - Blood's a Rover" - читать интересную книгу автора (Oliver Chad)

тАЬYou want my autograph?тАЭ hissed Andy, his face just a trifle flushed from the drink he had taken. тАЬI
make a real fine X.тАЭ
The feast followed a pattern familiar to Conan Lang. They were presented ceremonially to the tribe,
having identified themselves as ancestors of four generations ago, thus making themselves kin to virtually
all the tribe with their complicated lineage system, and also making refutation impossible since no one
remembered that far back. They were seated with the chiefs, and ate the ritual feast rapidly. The food
was good, and Conan Lang was interested in getting a good taste of the ricefruit plant, which was the
basic food staple of the Oripesh.
After the eating came the drinking, and after the drinking the dancing. The Oripesh were not a musical
people, and they had no drums. The men and the women danced apart from each other, each one doing
an individual danceтАФwhich he owned, just as the men from Earth owned material propertyтАФto his own
rhythm pattern. Conan Lang and Andy Irvin contented themselves with watching, not trusting themselves
to improvise an authentic dance. They were aware that their conduct was at variance with the somewhat
impulsive conduct usually attributed to ancestors in native folklore, but that was a chance they had to
take. Conan was very conscious of one old chief who watched him closely with narrowed eyes.
Conan ignored him, enjoying the dancers. The Oripesh seemed to be a happy people, although short
on material wealth. Conan Lang almost envied them as they dancedтАФenvied them for their simple, lives
and envied them their ability to enjoy it, an ability that civilized man had left by the wayside in his climb up
the ladder. ClimbтАФor descent? Conan Lang sometimes wondered.
Ren came over, his color high with the excitement of the dance. Great fires were burning now, and
Conan noticed with surprise that it was night.
тАЬThat is Loe,тАЭ he said, pointing. тАЬMy am-ren, my, bride-to-be.тАЭ His voice was filled with pride.
Conan Lang followed his gesture and saw the girl. Her name was a native word roughly translatable
as fawn, and she was well named. Loe was a slim, very shy girl of really striking beauty. She danced
with diffidence, looking into RenтАЩs eyes. The two were obviously, almost painfully, in loveтАФlove being a
part of the culture of the Oripesh. It was difficult to realize, sometimes, even after years of personal
experience, that there were whole worlds of basically humanoid peoples where the very concept of
romantic love did not exist. Coaan Lang smiled. Loe was, if anything, a trifle too beautiful for his taste.
Dancing there; with the yellow moon in her hair, moving gracefully with the leaping shadows from the
crackling fires, she was ethereal, a fantasy, like a painting of a woman from another, unattainable century.
тАЬWe would give gifts to the chiefs,тАЭ Conan Lang said finally. тАЬYour LoeтАФshe is very beautiful.тАЭ


Ren smiled, quickly grateful, and summoned the chiefs. Conan Lang rose to greet them, signaling to
Andy to break open the boxes. The chiefs watched intently. Conan Lang did not speak. He waited until
Andy had opened both boxes and then pointed to them.
тАЬThey are yours, my brothers,тАЭ he said.
The natives pressed forward. A chief picked the first object out of the box and stared at it in disbelief.
The shadows flickered eerily and the night wind sighed through the village. He held the object up to the
light and there was a gasp of astonishment.
The object was a ricefruitтАФa rice-fruit the likes of which had never before been seen on Sirius Ten. It
was round, fully a foot in diameter, and of a lush, ripe consistency. It made the potato-sized ricefruits of
the Oripesh seem puny by comparison.
It was then that Conan Lang exploded his bombshell.
тАЬWe have come back to show you, our brothers, how to grow the great ricefruit,тАЭ he said. тАЬYou can
grow them over and over again, in the same field. You will never have to move your village again.тАЭ
The natives stared at him in wonder, moving back a little in fear.
тАЬIt cannot be done,тАЭ a chief whispered. тАЬThe ricefruit devours the landтАФevery year we must move or
perish.тАЭ
тАЬThat is over now,тАЭ Conan Lang said. тАЬWe have come to show you the way.тАЭ