"Jack Vance - Assault on a City" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

Urbanites are dissatisfied people; they're all lonesome for the lost
paradise, but they don't know where to find it. They search all the phases
of subjectivity: they try drugs, music, perceptsтАФ"
"And gunk. Don't forget gunk!"
"Urban life is the ultimate human tragedy," said Alice. "People can't
escape except through catastrophe. Wealth can't buy objectivity; the folk
in Cloudhaven are the most subjective of any in Hant. You're lucky to work
in the spaceyards; you have contact with something real."
Bo shook his head in wonder. "How old are you?"
"It's really not relevant."
"You certainly didn't figure all that stuff out by yourself. You're too
young."
"I've learned from my father and mother. Still, the truth is obvious, if
you dare to look at it."
Bo felt baffled and savage. "I'd say that maybe you're not all that
experienced yourself. Have you ever had a lover?"
"Last night," said Alice, "someone put the question rather more
delicately. He asked me if I'd ever been in love, and of course I didn't care
to discuss the matter."
Bo drank deep from a tankard of lime beer. "And what do you think of
me?"
Alice gave him a casual appraisal. "I'd say that you are an individual of
considerable energy. If you directed and disciplined yourself, you might
someday become an important person: a foreman or even a
superintendent."
Bo looked away. He picked up his tankard, drank and set it down with a
carefully measured effort. He looked back at Alice. "What are you writing
about?"
"OhтАФI'm just jotting down ideas as they occur to me."
 "In regard to what?"
"OhтАФthe folk of the city and their customs."
Bo sat glowering at her. "I suppose you've been studying me all
morning. Am I one of the picturesque natives?"
Alice laughed. "I must be starting home."
"One moment," said Bo. "I see a man I want to talk to." He crossed to a
booth from which Raulf Dido quietly observed comings and goings.
Bo spoke in a harsh clipped voice. "You notice who I'm sitting with?"
Raulf nodded impassively. "Very tasty, in an odd sort of way. What is
she?"
"She's a starlander, and to talk to her you'd think she owns all Hant. I've
never seen such conceit."
"She looks like she's dressed for a masquerade."
"That's the style out back of beyond. She's absolutely innocent, pure as
the morning dew. I'll deliver. How much?"
"Nothing whatever. The heat's on. It's just too much of a hassle."
"Not if it's handled right."
"I'd have to ship her off to Nicobar or Mauritan. It wouldn't be worth
the risk."
"Come, now. Why not work up a quick sequence over in the studio like
we did with that set of twins?"