"Christopher Stasheff - Starship Tropers 3 - A Slight Detour" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stasheff Christopher)

"I thought it was a practical joke," Marty protested.

"Yeah, a joke." Ramou was throttling the desire to throttle Larry; it was a visible effort for him to
keep his hands on his hips. "Very funny, Larry. Very funny!"

"Ramou happened to come in while I was running a chemical analysis of the coating on the point,"
Charles explained. "He read the data off the monitor."

Larry bleated, "There are some people on this ship I wouldn't mind seeing dead, Ramou, beginning
with youтАФ but not Charlie!"

It was true. Everyone liked Charles Publican, and no one disliked him, though he was so reticent
that it had taken all of us awhile to come to know him well enough to warm up to him.

"But, Ramou," I said, "didn't you tell me that the Man in Gray had been in the locker room just
before we came in to change into costume? Or that you had met him coming up the stairs, at least."

That gave Ramou pauseтАФand a spark of hope sprang into Larry's eye.

"We know nothing about the man, save that he must be an agent from someone on Terra," I went
on, seized by inspiration. "For all we know, he might be capable of picking locksтАФand is far more likely
to have access to strychnine than Larry would."

"There's no telling what Larry might get hold of!" Ramou snapped.

He was referring to Larry's attempts at smuggling. "Be honest, Ramou," I said. "You jumped to the
conclusion that Larry poisoned the needle, and only because he could open Charlie's locker when none
of the rest of us could. That's not even strong enough to be circumstantial evidence."

A shadow of doubt crept into Ramou's expression.

Marty stepped around to Larry's other side. "You don't really believe this joker has brains enough to
plan some-thing like that, do you, Ramou?"

Larry turned on Marty. "You, talking about brain power? You, the man to whom 'wit' is only half a
word?"

Larry might have been in danger of a beating, but he still wasn't about to take a threat to his vanity
without fighting back.

Marty grinned. "That's pretty good, coming from the man who thinks that only clothes can be
'smart.' "



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Ramou stepped back a pace, frowning, puzzled.