"Steve Perry - Battle Surgeons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Steven)

drink mugs on tabletops. Zan smiled, stood, and bowed.
Den Dhur was standing next to Jos, who hadn't no-ticed when the reporter had come in. "Your partner's
good," Dhur said. "He could be working the classical circuit, making serious credits at it."
Jos nodded. "Probably would be," he said, "except for this little problem called interstellar war."
"Well, yes, that." Dhur paused. "Let me buy you a drink, Doc."
"Let me let you."
They stepped over to the bar. Dhur waved at the ten-der, who lumbered toward them. "Two Coruscant
Coolers." As they waited for the drinks, Dhur said, "What do you know about Filba?"
Jos shrugged. "He's the supply sergeant. Processes requisitions, changes in orders from upstairs, that kind
of thing. Smells like he uses the swamp for cologne. Outside of thatтАФnothing, really. Who knows anything
about Hutts? And why do you care?"
"Reporter's instinct. Hutts make news, more often than not. Also, Filba and I go back a ways. I don't
want to be speciesist or anything, but you know the old say-ing: 'How do you know when a Hutt is lying?
HisтАФ"
"тАФlips move,'" Jos finished. "Yeah, I heard that one. They say the same thing about Neimoidians."
 "And Ryn, and Bothans, and Toydarians. It's a tough galaxy, or so I've heard." The reporter grinned at
Jos, who grinned back. Though he came across as sarcastic and irascible, still there was something likable
about the scrappy little fellow.
The bartender brought their drinks. Dhur dropped a credit on the bar. "Hate to break it to you, but I've
heard it applied to humans, too."
Jos drained his mug. "I'm deeply shocked and of-fended. On behalf of humans across the galaxy, I'll have
another drink." He signaled the tender, then added, "Filba can be a pain in the glutes, but he seems to do his
job pretty well. Or maybe I should say 'jobs.' He's got his pudgy little fingers into everything, seems like.
He's even in charge of the bota shipments."
Dhur was about to take a sip of his second drink; he
stopped and lifted an eyebrow instead of his mug. "Ex-cuse me?"
"That's what I hear. Bleyd's given him full control over processing, harvesting, and shipments."
"Imagine that." Dhur seemed suddenly nervous. "Hey, did you hear about Epoh Trebor and his HoloNet
Entertainment tour? Looks like Drongar's on their list."
"I'll make a note to get excited about that later." Jos had never been overly fond of the popular HoloNet
star, although he seemed to be in a minority, judging from Epoh's ratings. He was still curious about Dhur's
inter-est in Filba, but before he could say anything more, the Sullustan drained his cup and said, "Align with
you later, Doc. Thanks for the drink."
"You paid for it," Jos reminded him.
"Right, so I did," Dhur said. "WellтАФyou'll get the next round," and then he headed for the door as fast as
his stubby legs could carry him.
Jos looked around, wondering if Filba had come in while they were talking. He didn't see him, and the
Hutt was pretty easy to pick out in a crowd.
He frowned. Obviously something had gotten Dhur's dewflaps in an uproar, and it seemed to have to do
with Filba. The base was expecting a few hours of relative peace and quiet before the next wave of
wounded ar-rived, unless there was an emergency evac from the front lines, which was always a
possibility. Jos had in-tended to spend the time getting some sleep. Sleep was even more precious than bota
on this world. Maybe, though, he would stop by the supply hut, see how Filba was doing.
First, however, he would finish his drink.




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