"Jack Vance - Tschai 4 - The Pnume" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

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indication of dismay. It seemed that restraint, unobtrusiveness, delicacy of
allusion were key aspects of sub-Tschai existence.
They wandered across the chamber and into the cavern close by Reith, who
pressed himself against the wall. The group halted not ten feet distant, and
Reith could now hear the conversation.
One spoke in a careful, even voice: "... Delivery. This is not known; nothing
was found."
Another said: "The passage was empty. If defalcation occurred before the bag
was lowered, here would be an explanation."
"Imprecision," said the monitor. "The bag would not then have been lowered."
"Imprecision exists in either case. The passage was clear and empty."
"He must still be there," said the tunnel monitor; "he cannot be anywhere
else."
"Unless a secret adit enters the passage, of which he knows."
The monitor stood straight, arms at his sides. "The presence of such an adit
is not known to me. The explanation is remotely conceivable. You must make a new
and absolutely thorough search; I will inquire as to the possibility of such a
secret adit."
The passage-tenders returned slowly along the cavern, lights flickering up
and down, back and forth. The monitor stood looking after them. Reith tensed
himself: a critical moment. Turning in one direction the monitor must certainly
see Reith, not six feet away. If he turned in the other direction Reith was
temporarily secure ... Reith considered an attack upon the man. But the four
were still close at hand; a cry, a sound, a scuffle would attract their
attention. Reith contained himself.
The monitor turned away from Reith. Walking softly he crossed the chamber and
entered one of the side passages. Reith followed, running on the balls of his
feet. He peered down the passage. Each wall was a ledge of pyroxilite.
Remarkable crystals thrust forth from either side, some a foot in diameter,
faceted like brilliants: russet-brown, black-brown, greenish-black. They had
been artfully cleaned and polished, to show to best advantage: enormous effort
had been spent in this corridor. The crystals offered convenient objects behind
which to take concealment; Reith set off at a soundless lope after the gliding
Pnumekin, hoping to take him unawares and put him in fear of his life: a
primitive and desperate plan, but Reith could think of nothing better ... The
Pnumekin halted, and Reith jumped nervously behind a shoulder of glossy olive
crystals. The Pnumekin, after a glance up and down the passage, reached to the
wall, pushed at a small crystal, touched another. A segment of the wall fell
aside. The Pnumekin stepped through; the portal closed. The passage was empty.
Reith was now angry with himself. Why had he paused? When the Pnumekin had
halted Reith should have been upon him.
He looked up and down the corridor. No one in sight. He went on at a fast
trot and after a hundred yards came abruptly upon the rim of a great shaft. Far
below gleamed dim yellow lights and a motion of bulky objects which Reith could
not identify.
Reith returned to the door through which the Pnumekin had disappeared. He
paused, his mind racing with angry schemes. For a desperate wretch like himself