"Chalker, Jack L - G.o.d. Inc. 2 - The Shadow Dancers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

They looked so young I figured it was his kids, but they weren't. Mukasa's job
was keepin' the records straight and generally runnin' the committee on a
day-today basis, and Dakani Grista, a real young hunk of a boy, and Ioyeo, who
was a little small as the women went here and looked maybe sixteen or so, were
the administrative assistants, or so we were told. Only Dakani was of the
manager class, though; Ioyeo (their women never seemed to have but one name, all
vowels-I guess it was the way things was translated) was actually a commoner
class person whose big talent was that she was oversexed and net real bright.
She had one hell of a figure, though, and that sari looked painted on, and I
guess that's one of the things they wanted around the office. Even on a world of
beautiful women, she was a real stunner, and she even had one of them dumb blond
voices-you know, high-pitched as all get-out and whispery to boot-and all the
right moves. I had to poke Sam more than once that night to get his mind back
where it should be.
They all treated her kinda like some servant, though, but she fetched and smiled
and giggled and didn't seem to mind. I couldn't help thinkin' that if there was
a leak or a traitor at the top, that's the one I'd look first at. Nobody was
like that in real life.
The talk was mostly small talk, and I did almost none of it.
"So, tell me, what's your world like?" Mayar Eldrith asked Bill Markham.
"A stroke seven world, sir," Bill replied pleasantly.
"Oh, yes-atomic weapons, superpowers, big and little wars," Mukasa put in. "An
interesting world. Not at all boring."
Bill choked down what he might really wanna say. "Yes, sir, it is definitely
interesting. You've been to a stroke seven?"
Mukasa chuckled. "Long ago, when I was very young. They were fighting a big
conventional war then, and there were lots of diseases and abysmal ignorance
about them. I remember that. I suppose it must have been your world, since
that's the only stroke seven we've developed for many years so far. Who won that
war, anyway?"
"Depends on which one it was. If it was a world war, then it was probably the
U.S., England, and Russia against Germany, Italy, and Japan. The U.S. side won.
Now they and the Germans, Italians, and Japanese are on the same side and the
Russians on the other."
"Fascinating," Hanrin put in. "I should like to see a full-blown war one
day-from a safe distance, of course."
"They're very destructive and not very pretty or glamorous," Sam couldn't help
but put in. "In fact, they're the ugliest side of human nature."
"Perhaps, but they are incredibly valuable. Progress and inventiveness
accelerate a hundredfold during a war. Most great inventions and ideas come out
of them, you know. I fear it is the nature of the human beast and just as
necessary to him as love."
"I notice there haven't been any wars here," Sam noted, a little ticked off at
this.
Mayar Eldrith sensed Sam's irritation. "Come, come! Yes, you're right, we don't
have wars here, but we're a pretty static culture because of it. Our progress
comes from what we learn from others. Still, we are not ignorant of the horrors
and cost of wars. The Labyrinth came out of a war, in fact-the last war fought
on this Earth between our people. In point of fact, it was terribly ugly. It
destroyed in the end all human life on this planet. Only a small band of brave