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

Alice said, "Hello, Waldo. What are you doing here?"
"I might ask you the same thing."
"Bodred brought me here in a van," said Alice. "He seemed to want my
help in making percepts; I was about to go when you arrived."
"You were about to go?" Waldo laughed scornfully. He put his arm
around Alice's waist and drew her toward him.
She put her hands on his chest and held him away. "Now, Waldo,
control yourself. I don't need reassurance."
"Do you know what they were going to do?" asked Waldo in a thick
voice.
"I wasn't particularly interested. Please, Waldo, don't be amorous. I'm
sure women of your own race are adequate to your needs."
 Waldo made a guttural sound. He called to his hirelings. "Hold off.
Don't kill them. Bring that man over here."
The men pushed Bo across the room. Waldo held a small gun which he
waved carelessly. "You were about to produce some gunk, evidently."
"What if we were?" Bo panted. "Is it any of your affair? Why did you
come busting in on us?"
"Think back to last night."
"Oh. You were the geezer behind the jeek."
"Correct. Go on with your gunk." Waldo jerked his head toward Alice.
"Take her. Use her. I don't want her."
Bo glanced uncertainly toward Raulf, still on the floor. He looked back
to Waldo, glaring sidelong at Waldo's gun. "What then?"
"I'm not done with you, if that's what you're worried about. You've got a
lot coming, and you're going to get it."
Alice spoke in a puzzled voice. "Waldo, are you suggesting that these
nasty creatures continue with what they were doing?"
Waldo grinned. "Why not? A little humility might do you good."
"I see. Well, Waldo, I don't care to participate in anything so sordid. I'm
surprised at you."
Waldo leaned forward. "I'll tell you exactly why I'm doing this. It's
because your arrogance and your vanity absolutely rub me raw."
"Hear, hear!" croaked Bo. "You talk the way I feel."
Alice spoke in a soft voice. "Both you boys are mistaken. I'm not vain
and arrogant. I'm merely superior." She could not control her mirth at the
expressions on the faces of Waldo and Bo. "Perhaps I'm unkind. It's really
not your fault; you're both rather pitiful victims of the city."
"A 'victim'? Hah!" cried Waldo. "I live in Cloudhaven!"
And almost in the same instant, "Me, Big Bo, a victim? Nobody fools
with me!"
"Both of you, of course, understand thisтАФsubconsciously. The result is
guilt and malice."
Waldo listened with a sardonic smile, Bo with a lowering sneer.
"Are you finished?" Waldo asked. "If soтАФ"
"Wait! One moment," said Alice. "What of the cameras and the
induction-cell?"
 Raulf, limping and groaning, went to one of the cameras which Alice
had not thrown to the floor. "This one will work. The cell is gone; I guess
we'll have to dub in her track."