"Smith, E E 'Doc' - The Galaxy Primes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

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down at the table. T^ot fit to associate with man or beast when he first gets up. How come you were smart enough to get the answer so quick, Brownie?'
'Oh, the pattern isn't too rare.' She shrugged daintily, sweeping the compliment aside. 'Especially among men who work under a lot of pressure.'
"Then how about Jim?' Belle asked.
'Glee's the Big Brain, not me,' James said.
'You're a much Bigger Brain than any of the men Lola's talking about,' Belle insisted.
That's true,' Lola agreed. 'But Jim must be an icebox raider. Eats in the middle of the night. Clee probably doesn't. It's a good bet that he doesn't nibble between meals at all. Check, Clee?'
'Check. But what has an empty stomach got to do with the case? And how?'
'Everything. Nobody knows how. Lots of theories -enzymes, blood sugar, endocrine balance, what have you -but no proof. It isn't always true. However, six or seven hours of empty stomach, in a man who takes his job to bed with him, is very apt to uglify his pre-breakfast disposition.'
Breakfast over and out in the Main:
'But when a man's disposition is ugly all the time, how can you tell the difference?' Belle asked, innocently.
'I'll let that pass,' Garlock said, 'because we've got work to do. Have any of you thought of any improvement on Lola's monogamous society?'
No one had. In fact -
There may be a loop-hole in it,' Lola said thoughtfully. 'Did any of you happen to notice whether they know anything about artificial insemination?'
'D'you think I'd stand for that?' Belle blazed, before Gar-lock could begin to search his mind. 'If you'd thought of that idea as a woman instead of as a near-Ph.D. in anthropology you'd've thrown it into the converter before it even hatched!'
'Invasion of privacy? That covers it, of course, but I didn't think it would bother you a bit.' Lola paused, studying the other girl intently. 'You're quite a problem yourself. Callous -utterly savage humor - yet very sensitive in some ways -fastidious...'
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'I'm not on the table for dissection!' Belle snapped. 'Study me all you please, but keep the notes in your notebook. I'd suggest you study Clee.'
'Oh, I have been. He baffles me, too. I'm not very good yet, you-'
That's the unders -'
'Cut it!' Garlock ordered sharply. 'I said we had work to do. Jim, you're hunting up the nearest observatory.'
'How about transportation? No teleportation?'
'Out. Rent a car or hire a plane, or both. Fill your wallet -better to have too much money than not enough. If you're too far away tonight to make it feasible to come back here, send me a flash. Brownie, you'll work this town first. Belle and I will have to work in the library for a while. We'll all want to compare notes tonight...'
'Yeah,' James said into the pause, 'I could tune in remote, but I don't know where I'll be, so it might not be so good.'
'Check. You can 'port, but be damn sure nobody sees or senses you doing it. That buttons it up, I guess.'
James and Lola left the ship; Garlock and Belle went into the library.
'If I didn't know you were impotent, Clee,' Belle said, laughing, 'I'd be scared to death to be alone with you in this spaceship. Lola hasn't realized yet what she really hatched out - the screamingest screamer ever pulled on anybody!'
'It isn't that funny. You have got a hostile sense of humor.'
"Perhaps.' She shrugged her shoulders. 'But you were on the receiving end, which makes a big difference. She's a peculiar sort of duck. Brainy, but impersonal - academic. She knows all the words and all their meanings; all the questions and all the answers, but she doesn't apply any of them to herself. She's always the observer, never the participant. Pure egghead ... pure? Thafs it. She looks, acts, talks, and thinks like a virgin ... Well, if that's all, she isn't any - or is she? Even though you've started calling her "Brownie", you might not...' She broke off and stared at him.
'Go ahead. Probe.'
'Why waste energy trying to crack a Prime's shield? But just out of curiosity, are you two pairing, or not?"
Garlock smiled calmly. Don't be inurbane. Let's talk about
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I
Jim instead. I thought he'd be gibbering.'
'No, I'm working under double wraps - full dampers. I don't want him in love with me. You want to know why?'
'I think I know why.'
'Because having him mooning around underfoot would weaken the team and I want to get back to Tellus.'
'I was wrong, then. I thought you were after bigger game.'
Belle's face went stiff and still. 'What do you mean by that?'
'Plain enough, I would think. Wherever you are, you've got to be the Boss. You've never been in any kind of a party for fifteen minutes without taking it over. When you snap the whip everybody jumps - or else - and you swing a wicked knife. For your information I don't jump, I'm familiar with knives, and you will never run this project or any part of it.'
Belle's face set; her eyes hardened. 'While we're putting out information, take note that I'm just as good with actual knives as with figurative ones. If you're still thinking of blistering my fanny, don't try it You'll find a rawhide haft sticking up out of one of those muscles you're so proud of.'
'Why don't you talk sense, instead of just shooting off your mouth like that?'
'Huh?'
'I know you're a Prime, too, but don't let it go to your head. I've got more stuff than you have, so you can't Gunther me. You weigh one thirty-five to my two seventeen. I'm harder, stronger, and faster than you are. You're probably a bit more Umber - not too much - but I've forgotten more judo than you ever will know. So what's the answer?'
Belle was breathing hard. 'Then why don't you do it right now?'
'Several reasons. I couldn't brag much about licking anybody I outweigh, by eighty-two pounds. I can't figure out your logic - if any - but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't do either of us any good. Just the opposite.'
'From your standpoint, would that be bad?'
'What a Hell of a logic! You've got the finest brain of any woman living. You're stronger than Jim is, by more than the Prime-to-Op ratio. You've got more initiative, more drive, more guts. You know as well as I do what your brain may
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