"H. Beam Piper - Lone Star Planet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

have to hurry, I'm afraid.... Well, bon voyage, Mr. Ambassador."




CHAPTER II

The death-watch outside had grown to about fifteen or twenty. They were all waiting in happy
anticipation as I came out of the Secretary's office.

"What did he do to you, Silk?" Courtlant Staynes asked, amusedly.

"Demoted me. Kicked me off the Hooligan Diplomats," I said glumly.

"Demoted you from the Consular Service?" Staynes asked scornfully. "Impossible!"

"Yes. He demoted me to the Cookie Pushers. Clear down to Ambassador."

They got a terrific laugh. I went out, wondering what sort of noises they'd make, the next morning, when
the appointments sheet was posted.




I gathered a few things together, mostly small personal items, and all the microfilms that I could find on
New Texas, then got aboard the Space Navy cutter that was waiting to take me to the ship. It was a
four-hour trip and I put in the time going over my hastily-assembled microfilm library and using a
stenophone to dictate a reading list for the spacetrip.

As I rolled up the stenophone-tape, I wondered what sort of secretary they had given me; and, in
passing, why Natalenko's department had furnished him.

Hoddy Ringo....

Queer name, but in a galactic civilization, you find all sorts of names and all sorts of people bearing them,
so I was prepared for anything.

And I found it.

I found him standing with the ship's captain, inside the airlock, when I boarded the big, spherical
space-liner. A tubby little man, with shoulders and arms he had never developed doing secretarial work,
and a good-natured, not particularly intelligent face.

See the happy moron, he doesn't give a damn, I thought.

Then I took a second look at him. He might be happy, but he wasn't a moron. He just looked like one.
Natalenko's people often did, as one of their professional assets.

I also noticed that he had a bulge under his left armpit the size of an eleven-mm army automatic.