"Mike Resnick - Tales Of The Galactic Midway 03 - The Wild Alien Tamer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

тАЬ What does the job pay?тАЭ asked the Sabellian.
тАЬ Pay?тАЭ repeated Monk. тАЬ You got it all wrong. I need an animal for my act inтАФ тАЭ Suddenly he stopped
speaking and a huge smile spread across his face.
тАЬ Are you saying what Ithink you're saying?тАЭ
тАЬ It is entirely possible.тАЭ
тАЬ Then what the hell are we standing around here for?тАЭ said Monk. тАЬ Let's go somewhere where we can break
out a bottle or two of really fine drinkinтАЩ stuff and talk a little serious business.тАЭ
тАЬ I know just the place,тАЭ replied the creature, starting off toward the door.
Monk, still grinning from ear to ear, fell into step behind it.


Chapter 3
Monk sat on the floor of the Sabellian's room, his back propped up against a stucco wall, a huge cigar
sticking out the corner of his mouth. He stared at the tall, oddly shaped glass in his hand, took a second
tentative sip just to be sure he had analyzed the first one correctly, and looked up at the creature.
тАЬ You got any grain alcohol in the place?тАЭ he asked at last.
тАЬ Have you an abrasion?тАЭ
тАЬ Why don't you just bring it on over and not worry your head about it?тАЭ replied Monk.
The Sabellian shrugged, turned, and left the room, and Monk once again studied his surroundings. He had
thought Mr. AhasuerusтАЩ office aboard the carnival ship was strange, but now he realized just how far out of his
way the blue man had gone to make his partner and crew feel at home there.
Compared to the Sabellian's apartment, it seemed sensible and conservative to then th degree.
There was, for starters, the furniture. Monk had taken one look at it and opted for sitting on the floorтАФ and as
he surveyed it again, he was certain he had made the correct decision. Chairs and couches that were made
for seven-foot beings with short legs and vestigial wings simply weren't suitable for humans.
Neither, he reflected, was anything else in the room. It had taken his eyes almost a full minute to adjust to
the very dim lighting, and the place's color schemeтАФ light gray on dark grayтАФ wasn't anything to write home
about. Two walls were covered by paintings and photographs, all of them inartistically rendered, of groups of
Sabellians, and a huge holograph of what seemed to be a very dead tree dominated one corner of the room.
In fact, it dominated the only corner of the room, since the architect seemed to have a fondness for obtuse
angles and inelegant curves. The carpet was thin and worn, made from some artificial fiber he couldn't
identify, and had an irregular gray-on-gray pattern that made no sense to him at all.
Another wall was lined with books and discs, though since he couldn't read Sabellian he had no idea what
subjects they covered. If the creature had a video or sound system, he hadn't spotted it yet. It also didn't have
anything resembling an ashtray, although it had quickly produced a shallow hexagonal bowl for Monk's
convenienceтАФ and had just as quickly opened the room's three diamond-shaped windows when it got its first
whiff of his cigar.
It returned as Monk was wondering what its bathroom looked like, carrying a small transparent flask with a
label pasted on one side.
тАЬ Here,тАЭ it said, offering him the flask. тАЬ I hope you are feeling better.тАЭ
тАЬ I will be in a minute,тАЭ said Monk, trying to figure out how to open it.
Finally he thought of twisting the cap in a clockwise direction, and a moment later he was pouring a couple of
ounces of alcohol into his drink. The Sabellian watched him in silent fascination.
тАЬ Thanks a heap, Batman,тАЭ said Monk, stirring the concoction with a ballpoint pen and then taking a long
swallow. тАЬ Ah, that's better!тАЭ
тАЬ The translating mechanism seems to have further problems with your pronunciation of my name. This time it
came out asBatman .тАЭ
тАЬ Friend, when you work for a carny, you get a carny name. From this moment forward, you're Batman.тАЭ
тАЬ Is there some significance to it?тАЭ
тАЬ It came to me in a flash. You look like a batтАФ that's a flying animal we've got back on Earth; ugly little