"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 23 - World of Promise" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

Nothing she could supply and she must have read the answer
in his eyes. Oddly her own filled with tears.

"I am sorry, my lord," she whispered. "So very sorry."

A sensitive? It was possible, carnivals and fairs were natural
resting places for such misfits. But what had she seen to make
her cry? What had she guessed?

Perhaps nothingтАФthe tears could have been a trick to attract
others, a little showmanship to enhance her standing. A facile
explanation, but Dumarest hesitated to accept it. A warning? It
was possible and his back prickled to the familiar sense of
danger. Podesta was the staging point for those heading for
Ascelius. It was the cheap and easy way which was why it was
popular with students and, at this time, it was simple to become
lost in the crowd, which was why he had chosen to travel in the
guise of a student. Had the girl seen through his pretense? Had
she known that others had done so?

To pursue those questions would invite the very attention he
needed to avoid. There was nothing he could do but to wait and
remain inconspicuous.
 He bought a skewer of meat from a stall and moved on while
he ate, pausing at the blaze of light thrown by lanterns over a
gambling layout, watching as the dealer taught those placing
bets how to manipulate the cards. A lesson they never even
suspectedтАФthe man was good at his trade.

A crone offered vials of potion guaranteed to win adoration. A
tall, gaunt man offered a drug which would increase the ability
to memorize data. A woman with silver hair dotted with scarlet
made crude jests as she persuaded a bunch of students to buy
her system of mnemonics. A monk lifted a chipped bowl of worn
plastic.

"Of your charity, brother."

Dumarest paused, tearing the last of the meat from the
skewer and throwing aside the wood. The monk followed it with
his eyes, saying nothing, but his meaning was plain. Dumarest
had eatenтАФothers would starve. If he could realize that, realize
too that, but for the grace of God, he could be one of them, then
the millennium would be that much closer. When all accepted
the basic credo then it would have arrived.

Brother Lond would never see it. Mankind bred too fast,
spread too quickly, but to cease from struggle because the aim
was distant was alien to the Church of Universal Brotherhood of