"Christopher Stasheff - Rogue Wizard 10 - A Wizard In a Feud" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stasheff Christopher)

"It must be effective," Magnus sighed. He frowned around at the forest bordering
their clearing. There was no moon, but the sky blazed with five times as many
stars as Terra's, and by their light he was able to make out a trail straggling
across the meadow and into the wood. "Let's go there." He pointed. "We don't
want people to find us in a meadow where the grass has been crushed flat by a
spaceship's downdraft."
"And keep our eyes open for renegade locals?" Alea asked. "Someone on the run,
always makes a good guide," Gar agreed. "That is, provided he's not on the run
for being a genuine criminal."
"Well, I do have to say that much for a planet where every body is trying to
kill everybody else," Alea said. "They're not likely to have slaves who are
trying to escape."
"No, but there might be someone who's been cut off from his own side." Gar
resettled his rifle, grimaced at its awkwardness, and said, "Let's go."
They started off into the night, Alea with a thrumming eagerness inside; she
still had not tired of seeing strange places and new peoples.
"Magnus," Herkimer's voice said behind them. They turned to look, surprised.
"What is it, Herkimer?" Gar asked.
"I have remembered all the information about the planet Oldeira," the computer
answered. "The CPU malfunction seems to have repaired itself."
Magnus frowned. "I don't like the sound of that. Something that can appear that
suddenly and disappear even more suddenly is very untrustworthy. Go up to orbit
and make sure of the diagnosis. When you find out what caused the problem, let
us know."
Alea breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment, she'd been afraid she'd have to go
back to her gilded prison. The caress of the night wind on her cheek seemed even
sweeter.
"I shall do as you say," Herkimer said, "as soon as you are out of range of my
sensors."
"Good idea," Gar said. "Let me know how you're doing."
"I shall," the computer said. "Good hunting."
Its infrared sensors watched as its humans crossed the meadow and disappeared
into the trees. It waited a moment longer.
Actually, it waited quite a few moments, enough to make up several minutes,
enough for a huge-headed, stumpy-legged, catlike alien to waddle down the
gangway and follow the humans into the forest. Herkimer wasn't aware of the
delay, though, since Evanescent used her projective telepathy to make him forget
everything from the moment the alien appeared in his field of vision until she
vanished into the shadows beneath the trees.
The time wasn't forgotten so much as edited out-and this time, the alien
remembered to reset Herkimer's clock so that the spaceship wouldn't know it had
lingered more than a few seconds longer than it had to.
Then it was up and gone, rising on pressor beams until it was safe to use
atmospheric drive. Up it spun into the stars, a disk of darkness against the
splendor of the heavens, until it rose out of the shadow of the planet into the
light of the sun and seemed one more star itself.
Gar and Alea didn't see, of course. They were already under the canopy of
leaves, searching for a smaller clearing where they could pitch camp and light a
fire.
Evanescent, though, found the nearest thicket and bedded down. She had no need