"Jean Marie Stine - Future Eves" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stine Jean Marie)

ideal paradise for every man, woman and child on Detaxal and Damin to visit, and of
course with our new cloud dispensers we could clear your atmosphere for you in
short order and keep it that way. Why, you'll make millions in the first year of your
trade.
"'Come now, allow us to discuss this with your ruler-king or whatever you call him.
Women are all right in their place, but it takes the men to see the profit of a thing like
this тАУ you are a woman, aren't you?"
The first of his long speech, of course, was so much gibberish to us, with his prate
of business arrangements, commerce and trade, tourists, profits, cloud dispersers
and what not, but it was the last part of what he said that took my breath away, and
you can imagine how it affected Geble. I could see straightway that she was intensely
angered, and good reason too. By the looks of the silly fellow's face I could guess
that he was getting the full purport of her thoughts. He began to shuffle his funny feet
and a foolish grin pervaded his face.
"Sorry," he said, "if I insulted you тАУ I didn't intend that, but I believed that man
holds the same place here as he does on Detaxal and Damin, but I suppose it is just
as possible for woman to be the ruling factor of a world as man is elsewhere."
That speech naturally made Geble more irate, and tearing off her thought transformer
she left the room without another word. In a moment, however, Yabo appeared
wearing the transformer in her place. Yabo had none of the beauty of my mother, for
whereas Geble was slender and as straight as a rod, Yabo was obese, and her fat
body overflowed until she looked like a large dumpy bundle of fat held together in
her furry skin. She had very little dignity as she waddled toward the Detaxalans, but
there was determination in her whole manner, and without preliminaries she began to
scold the two as though they were her own consorts.
"There has been enough of this, my fine young men," she shot at them. "You've had
your fun, and now it is time for you to return to your mothers and consorts. Shame
on you for making up such miserable tales about yourselves. I have a good mind to
take you home with me for a couple of days, and I'd put you in your places quick
enough. The idea of men acting like you are!"
For a moment I thought the Detaxalans were going to cry by the faces they made,
but instead they broke into laughter, such heathenish sounds as had never before
been heard on Gola, and I listened in wonder instead of excluding it from my
hearing, but the fellows sobered quickly enough at that, and the spokesman
addressed the shocked Yabo.
"I see," said he, "it's impossible for your people and mine to arrive at an
understanding peaceably. I'm sorry that you take us for children out on a spree, that
you are accustomed to such a low type of men as is evidently your lot here."
"I have given you your chance to accept our terms without force, but since you
refuse, under the orders of the Federation I will have to take you forcibly, for we are
determined that Gola become one of us, if you like it or not. Then you will learn that
we are not the children you believe us to be.
"You may go to your supercilious Queen now and advise her that we give you
exactly ten hours in which to evacuate this city, for precisely on the hour we will lay
this city in ruins. And if that does not suffice you, we will do the same with every
other city on the planet! Remember, ten hours!"
And with that he took the mechanical thought transformer from his head and tossed
it on the table. His companion did the same and the two of them strode out of the
room and to their flyers which arose several thousand feet above Tola and remained
there.