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

"Zindrome, fetch--"

"I have them here, my Lords."

"Now, let me see. How shall we phrase it...?"

"Perhaps I should clean the palace while your Excellencies--"

"No! Wait right here! This will be very brief and to the point."

"Mm. 'We hereby proclaim...'"

"Don't forget our titles."

"True. 'We, the imperial monarchs of Glan, herebeneath undersigned, do
hereby...'"

A feeble pulse of gamma rays passed unnoticed by the two rulers. The
faithful Zindrome diagnosed its nature, however, and tried unsuccessfully to
obtain the monarchs' attention. Finally, he dismissed the project with a
stoical gesture typical of his kind. He waited.

"There!" they agreed flourishing the document. "Now you can tell us
what you have been trying to say, Zindrome. But make it brief, you
must deliver this soon."

"It is already too late, great Lords. This race, also, progressed into
civilized states, developed nuclear energy and eradicated itself while you
were writing."

"Barbarous!"

"Warm-blooded irresponsibility!"

"May I go clean up now, great Masters?"

"Soon, Zindrome, soon. First, though, I move that we file the
proclamation in the Archives for future use, in the event of similar
occurrences."

Dran nodded.

"I agree. _We_ so order."

The robot accepted the crumbling proclamation and vanished from sight.

"You know," Drax mused, "there must be lots of radioactive material
lying about now..."

"There probably is."