"William C. Dietz - By Force of Arms" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dietz William)

whir out of the way, and removed a curvilinear tube.
"Here, you can speak into this."

Jepp recognized the device as some sort of handset and
heard a voice issue from a hole. "Jepp? Is that you?"

The sound of the merchant's voice was enough to trig-
ger unpleasant memories. The prospector remembered
what it had been like to wait for hours while Small sat in
his office. And then, i/he was very, very lucky, to be given
five minutes in which to make his case. Why the existing
loan should be extended, why he would strike it rich, why
Small should be patient. And how, when the whole hu-
miliating ritual was over. Small would part with a tiny
fraction of the money he'd made during the last five
minutes, and Jepp would slink away. But not this time Jepp
thought to himself. "Yes," Jepp said out loud. "It certainly
is. How do you like my fleet?"

Small, who had taken the precaution of draping a hand-
kerchief over McGurk's less than sanitary corn set, gave a
grunt of derision. "I don't know who owns those ships . ..
but it certainty isn't you."

"Oh really?" Jepp replied, eyeing the huge doughnut-

16 William C. Dietz

shaped space hab that had appeared on the shuttle's view-
screen. "How's that refueling station doing? You know,
the one that charges twice the going rate, just for being
out on the Rim?"

Small felt something gnaw at his gut. He made it to his
feet, grabbed the cane, and walked toward the door. Maybe
the folks down at the corn center could tell him what the
hell was going on. "Now Jorley ... there's no reason to
get all excited . .. let's talk."

A mob had formed in front of the corn center but parted
to let Small through. Voices babbled and questions flew,
but the merchant ignored them. People scattered as Small
barged into the main office and eyed the wall screen. There


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were ships all right, lots of them, more than he could
count. And there, right between some red deltas was his