"Ron Goulart - Shaggy Planet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goulart Ron)

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SHAGGY PLANET
Ron Goulart

Copyright © 1973 by Ron Goulart


CHAPTER 1


When they changed partners for the third time, he found he was
dancing with a robot. Peter Torres kept on snapping his fingers and
stomping his feet. The android, who resembled a plump blonde girl,
was wearing a white ball gown rich with fine lace.
"You work for the embassy?" Torres asked.
"Act natural," said the android. She tossed her long blonde hair,
clapped her hands above her head. "I do this pretty well considering
it's all programmed on punch tape."
Torres was a tall lean man in his early thirties. His face, which had
been out in too much bad weather on too many odd planets, had a
slightly knocked-about look. He grasped the robot around her lacy
waist and they went stomping and snapping through a portion of the
crowd at the embassy ball.
He asked, "Who sent you?"
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"You know," replied the blonde robot.
Stepping into an alcove, Torres asked, "You're with the Mirabilis
Agency?"
"Don't say the name out loud," cautioned the android. "But, yes. He
wants to talk to you right quick."
Torres exhaled, rubbed one knobby hand over his short-cropped
dark hair. He then reached out to toy with an icon on an alcove
shelf. "I came out to this planet of Murdstone for a vacation. I'm
here in Peluda Territory just relaxing. I'm having an affair with that
red-haired girl over there. I don't want a job."
"Dyed red," said the robot. "She is fetching, though. A little too
frail, but she has nice bones. Bones are the most difficult things to
simulate when you're building an android. Did you know that?"
"No. What sort of job is it?"
"He'll tell you. I was only to infiltrate this ball and get you."
"How much is the Mirabilis Agency offering?"
"Six thousand dollars."