"Mary A. Turzillo - Thumbkin, Caesar, Princess, and Troll" - читать интересную книгу автора (Turzillo Mary A)

Swinging himself out of the engine compartment on the alternator belt,
he reported, "There's a family of mice living in the air intake manifold."
"Nonsense!" Caesar scoffed. "None of the other mechanics found mice."
"None of the other mechanics actually walked through the intake
manifold. But there's another problem: your fuel supply."
"The fuel line is fine," said Caesar.
"Fuel _supply_. Tell you what. You need a loaner? I'll have to keep it
overnight."
Caesar decided to take a cab when he realized the loaner was Thumbkin's
hand-held bicycle.
Next day, Caesar returned to find Thumbkin crawling out of a strangely
empty engine compartment.
"What have you done to my engine?" shrieked Caesar.
"Improved it. It now runs on hydrogen. I installed nanotubes to process
the hydrogen, but you'll find it's fairly cheap, and a tank should last you
about -- oh, say 2000 kilometers."
Caesar jumped in the car and revved it up. Thumbkin rode on the dash,
car-dancing to the music Caesar had on the sound system, "Dr. Mesmer's
Spiritual Ferret" by Machine Embryo. Several miles later, Caesar said, "You
did it! Well, let me write you a check."
"Not so fast," said Thumbkin. "You promised a controlling share of the
stock in your company. And I have witnesses -- everybody at that graduation."
Caesar harumphed. "Well, of course. I meant we can meet in my office
tomorrow about noon and draw up the papers."
"_Not so fast_," Thumbkin continued. "There's the small matter of my
future bride."
"You can't mean Princess," groaned Caesar.
"The woman of my dreams. The mother of my future children."
"You realize she's a free woman. I was only joking when I said I'd
marry her off to the winner of my contest."
 "I was only joking when I said your car will continue to run," said
Thumbkin. "When this tank runs down, you'll have to find the gas lid release,
which I conveniently relocated."
Caesar sighed. "Well, she could do worse. Of course, I always wanted
grandchildren, and you don't seem -- "
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do," said Thumbkin.
***
Thumbkin soon learned why Caesar gave in so easily. Princess had been an
idealistic, bright girl until she went wrong at age eighteen. Now she was
heavily involved with a drug lord named Dick Troll.
Troll was a massive, ugly man who paradoxically exuded sexual
magnetism. Standing over seven feet tall, he routinely provoked terror in his
criminal lieutenants by barefistedly punching holes in the roofs of their
cars, or hanging them by the back of their shirts on basketball hoops. Women,
however, swooned over him. Princess, Caesar's sexy daughter, seemed to be one
who had been swept up by his animal charm.
Thumbkin decided that he could best win Princess's regard by showing
what a goon her lover was. He showed up in Troll's lavish, tastelessly
decorated apartment unannounced. In fact, he simply crawled under the door.
"I've heard of you," Troll said. "You're the little chemistry major