"Great Slow Kings, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zelazny Roger)

"We should have been advised!"

"Yes, great Lords, but I was absent and--"

"They themselves should have reported this action!"

"Masters, I am afraid they are unaware of your existence."

"How could that have happened?" asked Dran.

"We are presently buried beneath several thousand layers of alluvial
rock. The geological shifts--"

"You have your orders to maintain the place and clean the grounds,"
glowered Dran. "Have you been frittering away your time again?"

"No, great Lords! It all occurred during my absence. I shall attend to
it immediately."

"First," ordered Drax, "tell us what else our subjects have been up to,
that they saw fit to conceal from us."

"Recently," observed the robot, "they have discovered how to forge and
temper metals. Upon landing, I observed that they had developed many
ingenious instruments of a cutting variety. Unfortunately they were using
them to cut one another."

"Do you mean," roared Dran, "that there is strife in the kingdom?"

"Uh, yes, my Lord."

"I will not brook unauthorized violence among my subjects!"

"_Our_ subjects," added Drax, with a meaningful glare.

"_Our_ subjects," amended Dran. "We must take immediate action."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"I shall issue orders forbidding their engagement in activities leading
to bloodshed."

"I presume that you mean a joint proclamation," stated Drax.

"Of course. I was not slighting you, I was simply shaken by the civil
emergency. We shall draft an official proclamation. Let Zindrome fetch us
writing instruments."