"Zelazny, Roger - Collector sFever" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zelazny Roger)

Roger Zelazny. Collector's Fever


"What are you doing there, human?"
"It's a long story."
"Good, I like long stories. Sit down and talk. No--not on me!"
"Sorry. Well, it's all because of my uncle, the fabulously
wealthy--"
"Stop. What does 'wealthy' mean?"
"Well, like rich."
"And 'rich'?"
"Hm. Lots of money."
"What's money?"
"You want to hear this story or don't you?"
"Yes, but I'd like to understand it too."
"Sorry, Rock, I'm afraid I don't understand it all myself."
"The name is Stone."
"Okay, Stone. My uncle, who is a very important man, was supposed
to send me to the Space Academy, but he didn't. He decided a liberal
education was a better thing. So he sent me to his old spinster alma
mater to major in nonhuman humanities. You with me, so far?"
"No, but understanding is not necessarily an adjunct to
appreciation."
"That's what I say. I'll never understand Uncle Sidney, but I
appreciate his outrageous tastes, his magpie instinct and his gross
meddling in other people's affairs. I appreciate them till I'm sick
to the stomach. There's nothing else I can do. He's a carnivorous
old family monument, and fond of having his own way. Unfortunately,
he also has all the money in the family--so it follows, like a _xxt_
after a _zzn_, that he always _does_ have his own way."
"This money must be pretty important stuff."
"Important enough to send me across ten thousand light-years to an
unnamed world, which, incidentally, I've just named Dunghill."
"The low-flying _zatt_ is a heavy eater, which accounts for its
low flying..."
"So I've noted. That _is_ moss though, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Good, then crating will be less of a problem."
"What's 'crating'?"
"It means to put something in a box to take it somewhere else."
"Like moving around?"
"Yes."
"What are you planning on crating?"
"Yourself, Stone."
"I've never been the rolling sort..."
"Listen, Stone, my uncle is a rock collector, see? You are the
only species of intelligent mineral in the galaxy. You are also the
largest specimen I've spotted so far. Do you follow me?"
"Yes, but I don't want to."
"Why not? You'd be lord of his rock collection. Sort of a