"John Maddox Roberts - Cingulum 03 - The Sword, The Jewel and the Mirror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Roberts John Maddox)

One
HAAKON SAT IN HIS CAPTAIN'S CHAIR WITH HIS BOOTED feet propped on the console
before him. He liked sitting here, mainly because he liked the feeling of
being the ship's commander and the knowledge that he was absolute monarch of
the vessel. That did not always apply in other parts of the ship, which tended
to be chaotic. Here he could banish all others and rule in lonely splendor. A
speaker squawked beside him.
"Hey, Boss. Jem says for you to get down here so we can get this deal
settled."
Haakon ran a palm over his bare scalp. Time to quit fantasizing and get back
to work. He rose from the chair in a ripple of springy muscles and headed for
the companion way. He was big and rough-hewn, and he looked like a convict,
which he had been. His face was more battered than some of the rocks he had
been forced
1
John Maddox Roberts
to break during his years in the pits. It gave him a certain moral ascendancy
in his business dealings.
As his father had once told him: "Hack, if you can't be smart, at least be
intimidating."
He had found it to be good advice, which was just as well, because advice was
about all he had been able to salvage from his inheritance. His father had
been a viscount and so was Haakon, technically. The problem was that the
planet where the family estates had been was now in the hands of the
Bahadurans, a people notoriously reluctant to give back what they had taken.
That left him with this ship, Eurynome, which was without question a spacer's
fantasy of a vessel, and his crewmen, who were somewhat less than ideal from a
captain's viewpoint. There was also his business, which today was smuggling.
The crew was entertaining a syndicate of local businessmen in Eurynome^
sumptuous main salon while the latest deal was being closed.
As he entered the salon, a small 'bot floated up to him and extended one of
the tequila-and-iime concoctions he favored. The frosted glass was cool in his
hand as he crossed to where Soong was displaying his Han calligraphy to a pair
of merchants who shared his ethnic and cultural origins. On a sheet of
off-white paper, he had brushed a complicated character in red ink. The two
merchants examined it closely and expressed both admiration and puzzlement.
"I intend to have it registered among the official Han symbols," said the
small, neat man, "as soon as we reach a world where there is a guild house of
Master Scribes."
2
THE SWORD, THE JEWEL, AND THE MIRROR
"I am at a loss to interpret it," said one of the merchants. "Of course, I
recognize the character for 'ship,' but what is this one which is repeated
twice?"
"It looks like a combination of the characters for 'human' and 'cat,'" said
the other.
"You are most perceptive," Soong assured them. "The character breaks down as
'two Felids in one ship.' Properly, it translates as 'discord.'"
"Ah, I see," said one, looking just as mystified as before. He caught sight of
the approaching Haakon. "Come join us, Captain. Mr. Soong has been enthralling