"Foster, Alan Dean - Flinx - Bloodhype" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

bright red pupils were unblinking.

Exalted Captain Laccota SIFD scratched his belly where two of his ventral
plates joined and turned to his principal scientific advisor. "Well,
Carmot, this is where you start earning the credits Lord Ilogia? his scales
be thrice-blessed! ?has been paying you. You've sat on your tail for four
time?lengths while we've sweated dodging humanx sting?ships."

Cannot MMYM was shorter than the other two. In fact, he was the shortest
lizard on the ship. Externally he was rather a foppish specimen, addicted
to brightly colored body harness and (to the captain's mind) the decadent
habit of dyeing his incisors pink. A million years ago he would have been a
quick meal for an attacking tribe. Today, however, intelligence counted for
more than fang and claw. He possessed a sharp mind, excellent recall, and
was as devious as anyone else on board. Personally, Exalted Captain Laccota
disliked him. Professionally, he held him in high esteem.

"I don't like it," said the Observer?First finally.

"You are not paid to like or dislike anything," offered Laccota patiently.
"With the best will in the world, I remind you that you are paid only to
estimate any potential profit in whatever we may turn up. We have
definitely turned up something, here in this egg?forsaken system."

"I reiterate; I don't like it! I don't understand this at all, and I don't
like what I can't understand."

"An attitude shared by many," said Laccota. "Tell us what we have here,
Observer?most?competent?and?overpaid, and I will like it or dislike it for
you."

"Very well, Exalted?flier?of?ships?by?the-tip-of?his?tail." Carmot nibbled
idly on a claw. "When Observer?Fifth Plowlok first brought it to my
attention, as we proceeded with our standard survey orbit, my initial
reaction was the mental composition of a severe reprimand. Being young,
Observer?Fifth Plowlok SFDVIUTVB has the usual tendency of young explorers
to draw fanciful rather than objective readings from strictly prosaic
instrumentation. This time, however, he was full accurate."

Cannot stopped chewing and waved in the direction of the glassalloy port.
"We have out there, gentlesirs, an organic impossibility. An area of total
living blackness that follows the contours of the land, every dip and rise,
at a paper?thinness for several thousand square cluvits. Absurd, of cause.
There is nothing else like it anywhere on the planet. Nor, I venture to
hypothesize, in this system. It is unique. It is utterly remarkable. It is
impossible ...

"Properties, geatlesirs, properties! It is not harmed or visibly affected
by any kind of radiation we can generate. possibly more sophisticated
devices will be able to?I don't know. Nor is the energy so directed