"Dickson, Gordon R - Childe Cycle 4 - 1971 - The Tactics of Mistake" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

knowledge."
"I see what you mean," said Cletus. "But knowledge and conclusions are two
different things. That's why I'll be finishing all sixteen of the other volumes
in spite of Mr. Ten's doubts. In fact that's why I'm headed for Kultis, now, to
make sure I get them written."
"That's right—haul victory out of defeat there," creaked Pater Ten. "Win the war
at Bakhalla in six weeks and become an Alliance hero."
"Yes, not such a bad idea," said Cletus, as the lounge steward deftly slid a
clean wineglass in front of him and filled it from the bottle of canary-yellow
liquid on the table. "Only it isn't either the Alliance or the Coalition that's
going to win in the long run."
"That's a strong statement, Colonel," said deCastries. "Also, a little close to
treason, isn't it? That part about the Alliance, spoken by an Alliance officer?"
"You think so?" Cletus said, and smiled. "Is someone here thinking of reporting
me?"
"Possibly." There was abruptly a note of something chilling in deCastries' deep
voice. "Meanwhile, it's interesting to hear you talk. What makes you think it
won't be either the Alliance or the Coali- tion that'll end up having the
strongest voice among the colonies on Kultis?"
"The laws of historical development," said Cletus, "are working to that end."
"Laws," said Melissa Khan, angrily. The tension she had been feeling beneath the
calm talk had become too much to bear. "Why does everybody think"—she glanced a
moment, almost bitterly at her father—"that there's some impractical set of
principles or theories or codes that everybody ought to live by? It's practical
people who make things happen! You have to be practical, nowdays, or you might
as well be dead."
"Melissa," said deCastries, smiling at her, "honors the practical man. I'm
afraid I have to agree with her. Practical experience works."
"As opposed to theories, Colonel," flung in Pater Ten, gibingly, "as opposed to
bookish theories. Wait'll you get out among practical field officers in the
Neuland-Bakhalla jungle in a practical fire-fight, and discover what war's
really like! Wait'll you hear your first energy weapon sending its sizzle
overhead, and you'll find out—"
"He's wearing the Alliance Medal of Honor, Mr. Ten."
The sudden, flat, clipped tones of Eachan Khan chopped across the small man's
tirade like an ax. In the new silence Eachan pointed a steady, brown forefinger
at the red, white and gold bar at the far right of the row of ribbons decorating
Cletus' jacket.
2
The silence continued a moment at the table.
"Colonel," said Eachan, "what's the trouble with your leg?"
Cletus grinned wryly. "It's part prosthetic about the knee, now," he said.
"Perfectly comfortable, but you can notice it when I walk." He looked back at
Pater Ten. "Actually, Mr. Ten's pretty close to being right about my practical
military experience. I only had three months of active duty after being
commissioned, during the last Alliance—Coalition brush war on Earth seven years
ago."
"But you ended up those three months with the Medal of Honor," said Melissa. The
expression with which she had watched him before had now changed completely. She
swung about to Pater Ten. "I suppose that's one of the few things you don't know