"Mike Resnick - Lucifer Jones 3 - Encounters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

тАЬIt makes no difference to me,тАЭ he answered. тАЬI am Ivor. I serve the Baron Steinmetz.тАЭ

тАЬThen if you ain't some kind of night watchman, why were you dragging me off to that there wagon?тАЭ I
demanded.

тАЬI thought you were dead,тАЭ said Ivor.

тАЬThe Baron pays you to go around tidying up the cemetery, does he?тАЭ I asked.

тАЬNot exactly,тАЭ said Ivor. тАЬHe sent me here to bring him back a better brain.тАЭ

тАЬHe ain't pleased with the one he's got?тАЭ

Ivor sighed. тАЬIt's all very complicated, Doctor Jones.тАЭ

тАЬYeah, it sounds a mite complicated,тАЭ I allowed. тАЬI mean, a lot of folks wish they were a little smarter,
but this Baron of yours is the first one I ever heard tell of who's actually trying to do something about it.тАЭ

тАЬYou don't understand, Doctor Jones,тАЭ said Ivor. тАЬHe doesn't want the brain for himself.тАЭ

тАЬHe's stealing it for a friend?тАЭ

Ivor shook his head. тАЬIt's for his work. He has long sought to create a living man. For years he has
labored to reanimate dead tissue, putting together spare body parts in the laboratory he has built in the
basement of his castle.тАЭ

тАЬSeems to me that the standard way of creating new men is cheaper and easier, not to say more fun,тАЭ I
said.

тАЬHe is a brilliant man,тАЭ said Ivor. тАЬA great scientist. He is on the verge of a major breakthrough.тАЭ

It sounded to me like anyone who wanted to build a man in his basement was more on the verge of a
major breakdown, but I just smiled and nodded sagely.

тАЬAfter more than a decade of trial and error, of experiment after experiment, he had reached the final
stage of his work,тАЭ continued Ivor. тАЬAll he needs now is the proper brain.тАЭ

тАЬAnd he wanted mine?тАЭ I said. тАЬWell, I'm flattered, Brother Ivor, but if it's all the same to you, I ain't
done using it myself yet.тАЭ

тАЬI didn't know you were alive, Doctor Jones,тАЭ said Ivor apologetically. тАЬI heard that a major bookseller
had died yesterday, and I thought: what a wonderful present that would make for my masterтАФa brain
that had spent its entire life immersed in literature. It's his birthday, and the brain would be such a nice
surprise for him.тАЭ

тАЬWell, it seems to me that if you just stick around long enough, Brother Ivor, they'll bring this here
bookman to the cemetery and plant him, and then all you got to do is mark the spot and dig him up at
your leisure.тАЭ

тАЬIt's not that easy,тАЭ he said. тАЬThey have already arrested me twice for grave-robbing. I can only sneak in