"Jack Vance - The Gray Prince" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

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тАЬApproximately human. Their weldewiste*is alien to ours. TheyтАЩve drifted quite a distance on the
evolutionary floe.тАЭ

Schaine sighed and turned to inspect the Uldras. тАЬIs one of them the Gray Prince?тАЭ

тАЬNo.тАЭ

Valtrina approached with a handsome man in his middle maturity: a person of obvious distinction,
wearing a dark gray suit embroidered with pale gray arabesques. She brought her companion to a halt.
тАЬErris, my niece and nephew Schaine and Kelse Madduc. Schaine is just home from Tanquil, where sheтАЩs
been at school. Schaine, Kelse, this is Erris Sammatzen, who sits on the Mull: a man of great
importance.тАЭ She added with perhaps a hint of malice: тАЬSchaine and Kelse live on Morningswake
Domain in the Alouan, which they claim to be the single habitable area of Koryphon.тАЭ

тАЬPerhaps they know more than we do.тАЭ

Schaine asked, тАЬAre you native to Olanje, Dm.*Sammatzen?тАЭ

тАЬNo, IтАЩm an Outker like almost everyone else. I came here twelve years ago to rest, but who can rest
when Valtrina and a dozen like her insist on keeping me alert? This is the most intellectually alive
community IтАЩve ever known. Really, itтАЩs most exhausting.тАЭ

Valtrina beckoned to a tall woman with long blonde ringlets. Her over-large features were exaggerated by
cosmetics into a clownтАЩs mask; Schaine wondered if she mocked the world or herself. Valtrina spoke in
her hoarsest contralto: тАЬThis is Glinth Isbane, one of our celebrities: she taught three morphotes to play
desisto and won all kinds of strange booty. SheтАЩs secretary of SFS and far more profound than she likes to
appear.тАЭ

тАЬWhatтАЩs SFS?тАЭ asked Schaine. тАЬExcuse me, IтАЩm just back on Koryphon.тАЭ

тАЬSFS means тАШSociety for a Free SzintarreтАЩ.тАЭ

Schaine laughed incredulously. тАЬIsnтАЩt Szintarre free now?тАЭ

тАЬNot altogether,тАЭ said Glinth Isbane in a cool voice. тАЬNo one wantsтАФI should say, no one admits that he
wantsтАФto exploit toil or discomfort for gain, but everyone knows that this is often the case. Workers
therefore have banded into guilds to protect themselves. And now, who wields more raw power than the
Director of the Associated Guilds? I need not remind you of the abuses from this direction. The SFS has
therefore organized a force which we hope will exactly counter-balance the excesses of the guilds.тАЭ



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