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

тАЬ You didn't say which kind you wanted,тАЭ he explained, тАЬ so I brought a selection.тАЭ
тАЬ You're too late,тАЭ said Flint. тАЬ The fun's over.тАЭ
тАЬ What happened?тАЭ asked Tojo, laying the balls down carefully. He looked into the ring. тАЬ Did the Dancer have
to shoot him?тАЭ
Flint shook his head. тАЬ Let's just say that he's not real likely to become the next Rin Tin Tin and leave it at
that.тАЭ
тАЬ He looks sick,тАЭ continued the hunchback.
тАЬ He'll be okay,тАЭ said Flint.
тАЬ This is stupid,тАЭ Monk announced at last.
тАЬ What is?тАЭ
тАЬ If there's a dumber way to build an animal act, I sure as hell don't know what it is. Thaddeus, you've got to
let me take a ship and go out myself. I can't put an act together by mail.тАЭ
тАЬ I've told you why you can't,тАЭ began Flint.
тАЬ Yeah, but that was different. I still had Bruno, and you needed me in the specialty tent. Well, now I've got
nothing. You can either pay me a hundred grand a year to hold targets for the Dancer, or you can let me put
together an act that'll draw some customers.тАЭ
тАЬ What makes you think you canget anything worthwhile?тАЭ said Flint.
тАЬ You think Gunther Gebel-Williams is the only trainer that ever lived who can wrap a tiger around his
shoulders?тАЭ said Monk. тАЬ Hell, I used to pull food right out of Simba's mouth! ButI got to choose the animal.
Even this cowering hulk in the ring hereтАФ if I'd had him as a baby, he'd be pulling better crowds than the
Dancer.тАЭ
тАЬ Nothingoutdraws the Dancer,тАЭ said Flint firmly. тАЬ Still, you've got a point. You're making too damned much
money to sit on your hands, and there's no way we can send you home.тАЭ He paused. тАЬ Where would you
start looking?тАЭ
тАЬ Just program a ship to take me to a few worlds that have zoos, fix me up with a translating device, and give
me a line of credit,тАЭ said Monk. тАЬ I'll take it from there.тАЭ
тАЬ Let me talk to the skeleton about it,тАЭ said Flint. He turned to leave. тАЬ Stick around until Kazan of the North
has calmed down enough to put him back into his crate, and then help out with the games.тАЭ
тАЬ Is there anything you wantme to do, Thaddeus?тАЭ asked Tojo.
тАЬ You mean besides checking the concession goods against the manifest, changing the lighting in the
specialty tent, and making sure the animals get back on the cargo ship?тАЭ asked Flint. тАЬ Yeah. Why don't you
put the balls back where you got тАШ em from before someone comes along and swipes тАШ em?тАЭ
Flint walked back through the Midway to the huge spaceship, stopped off in the mess hall long enough to
pick up a beer, and took the elevator up to his partner's office on the top level. He entered without knocking,
as usual, walked over to a couch of unearthly design, and tried unsuccessfully to make himself comfortable.
The blue man was facing one of the walls, staring at an oddly distorted print while holding another out in front
of him. His ever-present cup of coffee, to which he had become addicted during his brief stay on Earth, sat on
his desk.
тАЬ Ah, Mr. Flint,тАЭ he said, looking up. тАЬ Which of these do you think looks better here?тАЭ He turned and held the
print up for Flint to see.
тАЬ I can't say that either one of them makes a lot of sense. I just hope to hell nothing in the galaxy actually
looks like that.тАЭ
тАЬ You disapprove of them?тАЭ asked the blue man mildly.
тАЬ Mr. Ahasuerus, I've been coming up here every day for more than two years, and every day you've been
playing with some new painting or drawing or holograph that's even weirder than the last one,тАЭ replied Flint. тАЬ
Evenyou can't take this junk seriously.тАЭ
тАЬ I assure you, these are works of art,тАЭ said the blue man.
Flint snorted. тАЬ Art is fat naked women. The rest is just so much hogwash.тАЭ
тАЬ Stated with your customary sophistication,тАЭ commented Mr. Ahasuerus in an amused tone of voice. тАЬ And
now, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?тАЭ