"Alan Dean Foster - Flinx 16 - Snakes Eyes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

brown plumage.

Various gems, some real, some imitation, dotted the long weaving neck, the chest, and the long thin
arms which had evolved from ancient wings.

The ornithorpe's name was Pimbab. He'd been taking his ease in the same drinking establishment as
Flinx. Despite the absence of external ears, the alien's hearing was acute—which was why he was
presently shadowing the two humans and their lumbering beast, his mind filled with visions of ornithoid
larceny.

Roly-poly human and attenuated bird-thing ignored each other with a single-mindedness of purpose
matched only by a similarity of intention.



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 Foster, Alan Dean - Commonwealth 16 - Flinx - Snakes Eyes (SS) (v1.0)




Flinx wiped the back of his left hand across his brow. Moisture-wrung clouds obscured the sun, but he
could feel its veiled heat. Yakus was beginning to draw slightly ahead of him, and Flinx touched his spurs
lightly to the flank of his muccax. The squat two-legged toad-creature gave a grunt and hopped to close
the distance.

"You walked this?" Flinx asked in admiration.

Yakus nodded, his expression colored with pride as he turned to glance back at the supply-laden
dryzam. "I did that. Walked in and walked out, though I couldn't have done the last without the help of
your pet." He gestured at the curled, sleeping snake-shape on Flinx's right shoulder.

Flinx glanced backward, past the plodding dryzam, to the distant ridge of the Snaggles, over which
lorded Mount Footasleep. They'd come a long way since leaving somnolent Edgedune, and according to
Yakus still had a good distance to go. Heat made the terrain and horizon ahead soften and run like
multicolored butter.

"I still don't quite understand why you insisted on these muccax"—Flinx rapped the broad, bony skull of
his own mount affectionately—"instead of having us hire a good skimmer."

"Too much dust and gravel in the air here. Skimmer's a mistake too many first-timers make," Yakus
explained. "Usually they're last-timers as a result." He tapped his visor. "Grit in the air is full of all kinds
of abrasive dissolved metals. Chews the hell out of any skimmer's air intakes. No thanks, I'll take my
chances with live transport. I like the flexibility a muccax gives me. You get to be my age, boy, and you
learn to appreciate flexibility. Besides, in an emergency, you can't eat a skimmer..."




Well behind the lecturing Yakus three other humans rode. "How far?" asked Michelos. He was a big