"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 28 - Melome" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

"Wait, Krasse. It could be cheaper deeper in the market."

"And less trustworthy. I've dealt with Chamile before and I
don't trust you among the stalls. Best to buy here and now and
get back to the farm before you've spent all we have."

Brothers or partnersтАФthey fell behind as Dumarest moved on.
Booths and stalls stretched on all sides, some bearing a profusion
of items, some only a few. Many held examples of goods housed
in the holds of the vessels which had carried them. Others
showed goods yet to arrive or dealt in future harvests, the
samples on display examples of earlier yields. Stalls bearing
gems of price were set next to those heaped with the cheap
glitter of rubbish.

Businessmen, traders, thieves, entrepreneursтАФthe market of
Baatz catered to all.

The jangle of a bell and the echo of a gong announced an
operation in progress and Dumarest halted at the booth of a
transient healer. The man was old, his robe not as spotless as it
could have been, but he was deft and practice had augmented
his skill. The patient was seated, eyes wide, the milky orbs
already anesthetized. A woman in middle age attended by a
young girl who watched with horror as the needle was applied.
Within seconds it had been done, the cataracts removed and the
eyes bandaged. The assistant had been generous with the
prophylactic spray.

"Here, my dear." The healer handed the girl a phial. "All done
and nothing to worry about. Give your mother this draught as
soon as you get her home."

A strong sedative with a touch of slowtime; the woman would
sleep while her accelerated metabolism speeded the healing
process. She would wake rested, hungryтАФand cured.

Another booth housed a dentist, another a dealer in charms,
yet another a man who promised a cure for all the afflictions of
the heart.

A fortune teller sat staring into a bowl of sand, the fine grains
spurting in a random pattern of plumes.

A man swallowed flame.

A boy lay screaming on the ground, held by four men while,
over his naked chest crawled the insect whose bite would cure
him of the epilepsy which controlled him.