"H. Beam Piper - Four- Day Planet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

films he'd shown already.
тАЬThey tell me there's a real Old-Terran-style Western been showing on
V├╢lund that ought to be coming our way this time,тАЭ he said. тАЬIt was filmed
in South America, with real horses.тАЭ
That would go over big here. Almost everybody thought horses were as
extinct as dinosaurs. I've seen so-called Westerns with the cowboys riding
Freyan oukry. I mentioned that, and then added:
тАЬThey'll think the old cattle towns like Dodge and Abilene were awful
sissy places, though.тАЭ
 тАЬI suppose they were, compared to Port Sandor,тАЭ Lautier said. тАЬAre you
going aboard to interview the distinguished visitor?тАЭ
тАЬWhich one?тАЭ I asked. тАЬGlenn Murell or Leo Belsher?тАЭ
Lautier called Leo Belsher something you won't find in the dictionary but
which nobody needs to look up. The hunters, ahead of us, heard him and
laughed. They couldn't possibly have agreed more. He was going to
continue with the fascinating subject of Mr. Leo Belsher's ancestry and
personal characteristics, and then bit it off short. I followed his eyes, and
saw old Professor Hartzenbosch, the principal of the school, approaching.
тАЬAh, here you are, Mr. Lautier,тАЭ he greeted. тАЬI trust that I did not keep
you waiting.тАЭ Then he saw me. тАЬWhy, it's Walter Boyd. How is your father,
Walter?тАЭ
I assured him as to Dad's health and inquired about his own, and then
asked him how things were going at school. As well as could be expected,
he told me, and I gathered that he kept his point of expectation safely low.
Then he wanted to know if I were going aboard to interview Mr. Murell.
тАЬReally, Walter, it is a wonderful thing that a famous author like Mr.
Murell should come here to write a book about our planet,тАЭ he told me, very
seriously, and added, as an afterthought: тАЬHave you any idea where he
intends staying while he is among us?тАЭ
тАЬWhy, yes,тАЭ I admitted. тАЬAfter the Peenem├╝nde radioed us their
passenger list, Dad talked to him by screen, and invited him to stay with
us. Mr. Murell accepted, at least until he can find quarters of his own.тАЭ
There are a lot of good poker players in Port Sandor, but Professor Jan
Hartzenbosch is not one of them. The look of disappointment would have
been comical if it hadn't been so utterly pathetic. He'd been hoping to lasso
Murell himself.
тАЬI wonder if Mr. Murell could spare time to come to the school and speak
to the students,тАЭ he said, after a moment.
тАЬI'm sure he could. I'll mention it to him, Professor,тАЭ I promised.
Professor Hartzenbosch bridled at that. The great author ought to be
coming to his school out of respect for him, not because a
seventeen-year-old cub reporter sent him. But then, Professor Hartzenbosch
always took the attitude that he was conferring a favor on the Times when
he had anything he wanted publicity on.
The elevator door opened, and Lautier and the professor joined in the
push to get into it. I hung back, deciding to wait for the next one so that I
could get in first and get back to the rear, where my hamper wouldn't be in
people's way. After a while, it came back empty and I got on, and when the
crowd pushed off on the top level, I put my hamper back on contragravity
and towed it out into the outdoor air, which by this time had gotten almost