"Christopher Stasheff - Rogue Wizard 06 - A Wizard in Chaos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stasheff Christopher)

I need you, I'll chirp like a cricket."
"Yes, well, I hope I won't be in the middle of a battle when you call," Gar said
with irony. "Let's plan on comparing notes every evening, shall we? That's a
good time to go off by one's self for a few minutes."
"Or to shut the door," Dirk agreed. "Let's state the question we're trying to
answer clearly and briefly, then-that always helps when you're trying to find
clues to the solution."
"A good idea." Gar was coming out of his melancholy. "We need to resolve whether
or not this constant warfare is good for the people as a whole."
"It can't possibly be," Dirk grunted, "but I suppose there's a chance that
there's a government under it that would be good for the people, if we could
ever get rid of whoever's causing the fighting."
"Or stop the governments themselves from fighting," Gar agreed. "After all, it's
not the first planet we've seen that had constant warfare."
"No, but there's a certain vividness to this one that suggests a high degree of
dedication," Dirk said with a shudder.
"Try to keep an open mind," Gar urged. "The fighting might be a ritualized
political process, with an equally ritualized way of avoiding killing or maiming
people, like the Terran Native Americans' custom of counting coup."
"I'll try to keep it in mind," Dirk sighed, "but I doubt it highly."
"I know what you mean. We've never seen a planet where there was so much
fighting going on at one time."
"Could be their busy season," Dirk suggested without much hope. "What if we
decide this constant warfare isn't just a freak outbreak, though, and can't
possibly be good for the people?".
"Then we have to seriously consider the possibility that it must be stopped, and



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that the governments that cause it, or the lack of governments, need replacing."
"And if they do," said Dirk, "how do we go about replacing them?"
"One question at a time, my friend," Gar said, smiling. "We'll deal with that
one if we come to it." His concentration on the plight of the people had let him
ignore the mare; she tossed her head and reared. Gar turned to her, pulling down
on the bridle, sending a soothing thought. She came back to all fours, calming
considerably.
"Gentling does go faster with your special gifts," Dirk admitted. "You don't
suppose they could work on the local lords, do you?"
"Probably," Gar said, "but it would be totally unethical-unless they were so
cruel that virtually any method of stopping them, and saving their peasants,
would be morally acceptable."
"And if things got that bad, we might as well just lob in a small bomb." Dirk
sighed. "Would have been nice if we could have done it the quick way."
"Imposed attitudes seldom last, anyway," Gar told him.
The Boss of Zutaine didn't want to pay off the Blue Company once the battle was
done, of course, but he knew he might need them again, and what was worse, he
knew he could look down from his battlements to see them camped all around the