"Vinge Vernor & William Rupp - Just Peace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vinge Vernor)

тАЬNot so fast, Mistress Blount,тАЭ Bossman Pier interrupted. тАЬYou arenтАЩt the only people brimming over
with hospitality. I believe Freeman Quintero would be much more comfortable in a society which does
not condemn dancing and music as a crime against nature.тАЭ

тАЬPlease!тАЭ Flaggon repeated, тАЬletтАЩs not have propaganda spoil the arrival of a visitor from the Mother
World. As mayor, I wish to offer you any assistance you require, Mr. Quintero. I, uh...Ah! will hold a
banquet in your honour tonight. Of course, we will invite guests from both New Providence and
Ontario.тАЭ He sighed unhappily, recognizing the inevitable. тАЬYou can settle things then.тАЭ

A faint hissing announced the opening of the freight port in the shipтАЩs hull. A lift slid down the ancient
metal surface with ChenteтАЩs тАЬluggage.тАЭ

тАЬMr. Quintero y Jualciro,тАЭ the computerтАЩs vocoder boomed from a hidden speaker, тАЬhave you further
orders at this time?тАЭ

тАЬNo. I will keep in touch.тАЭ

тАЬBeyond this hill I cannot protect you, sir.тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩll survive.тАЭ

тАЬYes sir,тАЭ doubtfully.

тАЬDamned machine,тАЭ Bossman Pier said softly. His perpetual grin had vanished. тАЬIt should be helping us.
Instead it shoots at anyone trying to make entrance. We had to leave most of our boys at the base of the
hill or we couldnтАЩt have got this close. Can I help you with that equipment?тАЬ

Chente stepped between BalquirthтАЩs servants and the freight lift.

тАЬNo thanks. I can carry it myself.тАЭ

The Ontarian smiled knowingly. тАЬPerhaps you will survive, after all.тАЭ

As they walked down the hillside, Vicente kept silent. So I died here, he thought. Well, that was no great
surprise. But that he had been killed by the very colonists he had been sent to help made his mission
seem doubly difficult. What had happened on New Canada these last one hundred thirty years?

The lush grass on the hilltop thrived everywhere. He was no botanist, but it looked like some terrestrial
type brought by the first colonists. Other vegetation was less familiar. Large ferns and broad-leafed plants
stood in scattered clumps. The trees looked like giant flowers: their trunks rose straight and tall, with
purple foliage sprouting from the top. Except for the grass, the land had a strong Permian aspect. Chente
half expected a giant reptile to pop out of the bushes.

They had reached the base of the hill when his expectation materialized. A meter-wide something flew
low over their heads, then circled above a nearby ridge.

тАЬA gretch,тАЭ Bretaign Flaggon said. тАЬTheyтАЩre really quite common around here. That poor little fellow
must have lost his mother.тАЭ

The тАЬpoor little fellowтАЭ looked like a cross between a pterodactyl and a buzzard. Chente grimaced. A