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

Xanten could allow them no such leisure. He marched for-
ward, wielding the whip, striking at the only area where the
Meks felt pain: the ropy face. "To your duties," he roared. "A
fine maintenance crew are you! A destruction crew is more
like it!" .
The Meks made their soft blowing sound which might
mean anything. They fell back, and now Xanten noted one
standing at the head of the companionway leading into the
ship: a Mek larger than any he had seen before and one in
some fashion different. This Mek was aiming a pellet gun at
his head. With an unhurried flourish Xanten whipped away a
Mek who had leapt forward with a knife, and without deigning
to aim fired at and destroyed the Mek who stood on the
companionway, even as the slug sang past his head.
The other Meks were nevertheless committed to an attack.
All surged forward. Lounging disdainfully against the hull,
Xanten shot them as they came, moving his head once to
avoid a chunk of metal, again reaching to catch a throw-knife
and hurl it into the face of him who had thrown it.
The Meks drew back, and Xanten guessed that they had
agreed on a new tactic: either to withdraw for weapons or
perhaps to confine him within the hangar. In any event no
more could be accomplished here. He made play with the
whip and cleared an avenue to the office. With tools, metal
bars and forgings striking the glass behind him, he sauntered
through the office and out into the night. He did not look
behind.
The full moon was rising, a great yellow globe casting a
smoky saffron glow, like an antique lamp. Mek eyes were not
well adapted for night seeing, and Xanten waited by the door.
Presently Meks began to pour forth, and Xanten hacked at
their necks as they came.
The Meks drew back inside the hangar. Wiping his blade
Xanten strode off the way he had come, looking neither right
nor left. He stopped short. The night was young. Something
tickled his mind: the recollection of the Mek who had fired
the pellet gun. He had been larger, possibly a darker bronze,
but, more significantly, he had displayed an indefinable poise,
almost authoritythough such a word, when used in connec-
tion with the Meks, was anomalous. On the other hand,
someone must have planned the revolt, or at least originated
the concept of a revolt in the first place.
It might be worthwhile to extend the reconnaissance,
though his primary information had been secured.
Xanten turned back and crossed the landing area to the
barracks and garages. Once more, frowning in discomfort, he
felt the need for discretion. What times these were when a
gentleman must skulk to avoid such as the Meks! He stole up
behind the garages, where a half-dozen power-wagons* lay
dozing.