"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 19 - The Quillian Sector" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

like to have been like him, to have worn the scarlet robe, to have
relinquished all the things which most men held dear. Caradoc
would never know the thrill of sitting in a hide waiting for the
quarry to appear, to aim, to select the target, to fire, to know the
heady exultation of one who has dispensed death. The sheer
ecstasy of pitting mind against mind in the hunt for one of his
own kindтАФthe most exciting and dangerous quarry of all. To kill
and to escape, which often was harder than the kill itself. To
outguess and outmaneuver. To anticipate and to watch the
stunned sickness in a quarry's eyes. To hear the babble for
mercy, see the futile twitches as the demoralized creature tried
to escape, to plan even while it begged to die, finally, when the
hunter had become bored.

No, Caradoc would never know what it was to be bored and
for that alone, Bochner could envy him.

The wine was in a bottle of crusted glass, the crystal flecked
with inner motes of shimmering gold, the liquid itself a pale
amber, holding the tart freshness of a crisp, new day. Bochner
poured and lifted the cap which served as a cup.

"To your health, my friend." He drank and refilled the small
container. "You object?"

"I wonder."

"Why I drink?"

"Why any man of intelligence should choose to put poison into
his body."

"A good point," mused Bochner. "Why do we do it? To find
escape, perhaps to discover a world of dreams. Some cannot do
without the anodyne of alcohol, but I am not one of them. Listen,
my scarlet accomplice, and try to comprehend. The quarry I
hunt lurks in unsuspected quarters and must be sought in
regions you may not understand. At times, I must sit for long
hours in taverns and what should I drink then? No, I drink as a
part of my camouflage and must maintain my tolerance for
alcohol. As a runner must practice to keep up his acquired
ability. A swimmer, his mastery over water." Again he emptied
the cup and again refilled it. "Test me now and you would find
me as sober as yourself. Give me a mark and a gun and I will hit
it as many times as you choose to name. In any case, it helps to
pass the time."
 "Quick-time will do that better."

"The drug will shorten the days and little else." Bochner slowly
finished his wine. "But no compound ever yet discovered or