"Jack Vance - The Last Castle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

Xanten's response to 0. Z. Garr was blandly polite. "I shall
be glad to take this task upon myself. Since haste is of the
essence I will risk the accusation of precipitousness and leave
at once. Hopefully I return to report tomorrow." He rose,
performed a ceremonious bow to Hagedorn, another all-inclu-
sive salute to the council and departed.
He crossed to Esledune House where he maintained an
apartment on the thirteenth level: four rooms furnished in the
style known as Fifth Dynasty, after an epoch in the history of
the Altair Home Planets, from which the human race had
returned to Earth.
His current consort, Araminta, a lady of the Onwane
family, was absent on affairs of her own, which suited Xanten
well enough. After plying him with questions she would have
discredited his simple explanation, preferring to suspect an
assignation at his country place. Truth to tell, he had become
bored with Araminta and had reason to believe that she felt
similarlyor perhaps his exalted rank had provided her less
opportunity to preside at glittering social functions than she
had expected. They had bred no children. Araminta's
daughter by a previous connection had been tallied to her.
Her second child must then be tallied to Xanten, preventing
him from siring another child.*
Xanten doffed his yellow council vestments. Assisted by a
young Peasant buck, he donned dark yellow hunting-breeches
with black trim, a black jacket, black boots. He drew
a cap of soft black leather over his head, slung a pouch over
his shoulder, into which he loaded weapons: a coiled blade, an
energy gun.
Leaving the apartment he summoned the lift and descended
to the first level armory, where normally a Mek clerk would
have served him. Now Xanten, to his vast disgust, was forced
to take himself behind the counter, and rummage here and
there. The Meks had removed most of the spotting rifles, all
the pellet ejectors and heavy energy-guns. An ominous cir-
cumstance, thought Xanten. At last he found a steel sling-
- whip, spare power-slugs for his gun, a brace of fire grenades,
,a high-powered monocular.
He returned to the lift, rode to the top level, ruefully
considering the long climb when eventually the mechanism

*The population of Castle Hagedorn was fixed; each gentleman and
each lady was permitted a single child. If by chance another were born
he must either find someone who had not yet sired to sponsor it, or
dispose of it another way. The usual procedure was to give the child into
the care of the Expiationists.
broke down, with no Meks at hand to make repairs. He
thought of the apoplectic furies of rigid fraditionalists such as
Beaudry and chuckled. Eventful days lay ahead!
Stopping at the top level he crossed to the parapets,