"Jack Vance - The Demon Princes - complete" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

10

THE DEMON PRINCES

"I doubt if you have heard the worst. But nevertheless, and the
astounding paradox. . . ." Teehalt closed his eyes. "I am locating for
Attel Malagate. He owns my ship. I have taken his money."

"It is a difficult position."

"When I found outтАФwhat could I do?" Teehalt threw up his
hands in an excited extravagant gesture, reflecting either emotional
turmoil or the effects ofSmade's whiskey. "I have asked myself this,
over and over. I did not make this choice. I had my ship and my
money, not from an estate house, but from an institution of dignity.
I did not think of myself as a common locater. I was Lugo Teehalt,
a man of parts, who had been appointed to the post of Chief Ex-
plorer for the institution, or some such follyтАФso I assured myself.
But they sent me out in a 9B boat, and I could no longer delude
myself. I was Lugo Teehalt, common locater."

"Where is your boat?" asked Gersen, idly curious. "There is
only my own and the Star King's out on the landing field."

Teehalt pursed his lips in another onset of wariness. "I have
good reason for caution." Teehalt glanced right and left. "Would
it surprise you to learn that I expect to meetтАФ" he hesitated,
thought better of what he had planned to say, and sat silently a
moment, looking into his empty glass. Gersen signaled, and young
Araminta Smade brought whiskey on a white jade tray, upon which
she herself had painted a red and blue floral border.

"But this is inconsequential," said Teehalt suddenly. "I bore

you with my problems. . .."

"Not at all," said Gersen, quite truthfully. "The affairs of Attel

Malagate interest me."

"I can understand this," said Teehalt after another pause. "He
is a peculiar combination of qualities."

"From whom did you have your boat?" Gersen asked ingenu-
ously.
Teehalt shook his head. "I will not say. For all I know you may

be Malagate's man. I hope not, for your own sake."