"Donald Westlake - SH1 - Don't You Know There's A War On" - читать интересную книгу автора (Westlake Donald E)

flapping, Supreme commanders took to their heels and the great long silver bullet of the spaceship settled
slowly, delicately, almost lazily into the very center of the valley, the massive base of the thing gently
mashing the main altar into a dinner mat.



"Remember, Councilman," Ensign Kybee Benson said, pacing the councilman's cabin, "these are
intelligent and subtle people, the descendants of philosophers."

"Hardly a problem," Councilman Morton Luthguster responded. "I'm something of a philosopher myself."

Ensign Benson and Councilman Luthguster meshed imperfectly. Ensign Benson was almost painfully
aware that the reason the councilman had been chosen to represent the Galactic Council on this endless,
trivial, boring mission to the universal boondocks was simply that nobody at the Galactic Council could
stand the man's porposities anymore. Luthguster didn't realize that; nor did he realize that it was Ensign
Benson's sharp-nosed personality that had won him a berth on the Hopeful (neither did Ensign Benson);
but he'd certainly noticed that all his conversations with Ensign Benson left him with the sense that his fur
had been rubbed the wrong way.

Ensign Benson's face now wore the expression of a man eating a lemon. "Councilman, would you like to
know which particular philosophy these philosophers philosophized about?"

"You're the social engineer," Luthguster pointed out, getting a bit prickly himself. "It's your job to
background me on these colonies."

"Dualists," Ensign Benson said. "They were dualists."

"You mean they fought each other.

Lieutenant Billy Shelby, the Hopeful's young second in command, knocked on the open door and
entered the cabin, saying, "Sir, the ship has landed."

"Just a second, Billy." Taking a deep breath, displaying his patience, Ensign Benson said, "Not duelists,
Councilman, dualists. They believed in the philosophy of dualism. Simply stated, the idea that there are
two sides to every story."

"At the very least," Luthguster said. "Back in the Galactic Coun-"

"Gemini," Ensign Benson interrupted. "That's what they named their colony, after the twins of the zodiac.
They'd originally considered Janus, after the two-faced god, but that suggested a duplicity they didn't
intend. Discussion and debate; that's the core of their approach to life."

"A civilized and cultured people, obviously." Luthguster preened himself, patting his big round belly. "We
shall get along famously."

"No doubt," Ensign Benson said. "Shall we begin?"

They followed Billy Shelby down to the main hatch, where the ladder had already been extruded, but the
door was not yet open. Waiting beside' it was Captain Standforth, tall and thin and vague, his stun gun
ready in his hand. Pointing to the weapon, Luthguster said, "We won't be needing that, Captain. These