"Anderson, Poul - Operation Luna" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anderson Poul)

word. Or--" I couldn't make out the rest. As a licensed witch, she has a
wide vocabulary from exotic languages. I guessed this was Zuni. "Powers
are abroad. Coyote is certainly on the prowl."

"And nearby, watching for a chance?"

"Of course. He always is."

"Oh, well, then." I didn't intend bravado. The Trickster is a bad enemy,
and not exactly a reliable friend. He'd wrought havoc in the early days
here, like when one test vehicle, a flying wing, molted in midair, or
when moths got at a still more expensive experimental model, a
super-carpet, and ate it full of holes.

However, I recalled, before there was any actual fatality, the National
Astral Spellcraft Administration had grown smart for the nonce and
consulted the local Indians. They informed it that Coyote had declared
feud on it. He didn't like this invasion of his stamping grounds, not to
speak of stunts more spectacular than any of his. The medicine men
weren't very happy about it either.

So NASA's chief had a talk with President Lambert in Washington. Project
Selene had been Lambert's way of pulling his political chestnuts out of
the fire after the Brazilian crisis, when he'd fearlessly told the
people of Rio de Janeiro he was one of them--"ЎYo soy un carioca!"-- in
Spanish. Also, it would mean considerable pork for his Southwestern
power base. Therefore he twisted arms, and possibly other body parts, in
Congress, and the Indians got a more decent deal from the government
than they'd had before, and the priests invoked their gods and kachinas
to protect Cardinal Point…

I hauled my mind back. Had the outlaw influences caused it to wander?
Those things had happened seven or eight years ago. My family and I had
been here for only two. Ginny was correcting me: "Not him alone, though
I do feel he's more… eager… than anytime I've known since I first
learned a little about such things. Something else also."

"Like the Blue Flint Boys?" I ventured. I'd picked up odds and ends of
lore, nothing like the education she'd set herself to acquire.
Mischievous but not malignant spirits shouldn't be cause for worry.

She dashed my hopes. "Something much more powerful, something I--" She
seldom hesitated. "--I can half guess at, though not really--"

If I'd been wolf, I'd have bristled. As it was, chill tiptoed along my
spine and out to my nerve ends. "Can you discover what?"

"Maybe. But not without cantrips, and we aren't allowed any tonight.
This is just sensitivity,' like mine, but way sharper.