"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 10 - Jondelle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

bed, very solemn, his words very precise.

"My name is Jondelle. I must thank you for having saved me
when we were attacked in the city."

Big words for a small boy, thought Dumarest, but, equally
solemn, he said, "It was my pleasure to be of service. Can you tell
me what happened?"

"After you were shot?"

"Yes."

"Elray saved you. He helped you to our raft and brought you
back home. I didn't forget to bring your knife. Do you want it
now?"

"Please," said Dumarest.

"I've cleaned it," said the boy. "It was all sticky with blood but
I washed it and polished it. Have you used it to kill many men?"

"No more than I had to."

"I saw how you threw it. Will you teach me how to throw a
knife?"

"Perhaps." Dumarest sat upright on the cot. He was naked
beneath the sheets, a transparent bandage tight against the left
side of his body. Beneath the covering he could see the flesh
almost totally healed. Hormones, he thought, or perhaps even
slow-time, the magic chemical which speeded the metabolism so
that a man lived a day in a few minutes. But he doubted it. The
use of slow-time brought ravenous hunger and he did not feel
that. And there were no marks on his arms to show the use of
intravenous feeding.

"Makgar nursed you," said the boy. "She is very good at that,
but I think Weemek helped."

"Weemek?"

"A friend who visits us sometimes. If you stay here, you will
meet him. I call it a 'him,' but I can't be sure. He isn't human,
you see."

Dumarest didn't, but he didn't correct the boy. He leaned
back, faintly amused and more than a little puzzled. The lad
spoke too precisely for his apparent age as if he'd had intensive
schooling during his formative years. Or perhaps it was normal