"Vance, Jack - Gaean Reach - Demon Princes 02 - The Killing Machine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

alomaniac, Howard Alan Treesong a chaoticist. Kokor Hekkus was
the most mercurial, fantastic, and inaccessible, the most daring and
inventive. A few folk had reported their impressions: uniformly they
found him affable, restless, unpredictable, and infected with what
might have seemed utter madness, except for his demonstrable con-
trol and strength. As to his appearance, all had different opinions.
He was, by popular repute, immortal.

Gersen's second encounter with Kokor Hekkus occurred in the
course of a routine mission Beyond, and was indecisive-or so it
seemed at the time. In early April of 1525, Ben Zaum, an official
of the IPCC,* arranged a clandestine interview with Gersen and
proposed a stint of "weaseling"-that is to say, an IPCC investi-
gation Beyond. Gersen's own affairs had come to a standstill; he
was bored and restless, and so agreed at least to listen to the prop-
osition.

The job, as Zaum explained it, was simplicity itself. The IPCC
had been commissioned to locate a certain fugitive: "Call him 'Mr.
Hoskins,' " said Zaum. So urgently required was Mr. Hoskins that
at least thirty operatives were being despatched to various sectors
of the Beyond. Gersen's job would be to survey the inhabited lo-
calities of a certain planet: "Call it 'Bad World,' " said Zaum, with
a knowing grin. Gersen must either locate Mr. Hoskins or establish
as a definite certainty7 that he had not set foot on Bad World.

Gersen reflected a moment. Zaum, who reveled in mystifica-

*IPCC-Intemorld Police Coordination Company in theory, a private organization pro-
viding the police systems of the Oikumene specialized consultation, a central information
file, cnminological laboratories, in practice, a supergovernmental agency occasionally func-
tioning as a law in itself

THE KILLING MACHINE

17')

tion, on this occasion seemed to be outdoing himself. Patiently
Gersen began to chip away at the exposed part of the iceberg, hop-
ing to float new areas into view. "Wliy only thirty weasels? To do
the Job right, you'd need a thousand."

Zaum's wise expression gave him the semblance of a large blond
owl. "We've been able to narrow the area of search. I can say this
much, Bad World is one of the likelier spots-which is why I want
you to take it on. I can't overemphasize how important all this is."

Gersen decided he didn't want the job. Zaum had determined-
or was under orders-to maintain as much reticence as possible.
Working in the dark irritated Gersen, distracted him, and so re-