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

for children of this culture to be so forward.

He said, "May I have my knife now?"

It was clean as the boy had said, the edge freshly honed, the
steel polished.

"And my clothes?"

"Makgar has those. She has refurbished them. Is there
anything else you want?"
 Information, but that could wait. Dumarest shook his head,
and as the boy left looked around. He was in a room made of
slabbed stone, the ceiling low and heavily beamed, the floor of
wood smoothed to a natural polish. Rugs softened the spartan
simplicity, a few prints made bright patches of color against the
walls, and a broad window was bright with a pale green light.
The sun was high over rolling plains and fields thick with crops.
Trees stood at the crest of a distant ridge and a narrow river
wended down a slope to vanish in a curve which led beyond the
house.

A farmhouse, he guessed. The center of an agricultural
complex. Somewhere would be barns for livestock, silos for
storage, sheds for machinery. Other houses also for the workers.
He opened the window and breathed deeply of the air. It was
warm, scented with unfamiliar odors, rich and invigorating.
Suddenly he was hungry.

"You shouldn't be up," said a voice behind him. "Get back into
bed now."

He turned and looked at the woman. She was tall, with a
closely cut mane of dark hair, her dark eyes holding a hint of
amusement and something of anticipation. Her figure was full
and lush beneath a dress of some brown fabric belted at the
waist. Her feet were bare in leather sandals, her hands broad, the
fingers long and tapered. The hands of a sculptor, he thought, or
those of a surgeon. Unabashed by his nakedness, he stood and
met her eyes.

"Bed," she repeated. "Immediately."

"You are Makgar?"

"Yes, but I am also your doctor, your nurse, and your hostess.
Also I am very grateful and would hate to see you suffer a
relapse. If it hadn't been for the protective mesh buried in your
clothing, the beam of that laser would have killed you. As it was
the heat was dissipated just enough to slow penetration. Now