"Frank Herbert - Seed Stock" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

They went inside then, closed the door, and she held him with more ardor, stared up into his face which,
reflected in her eyes, lost some of its ugliness. 'Honida,' he said, unable to find other words. Presently, he
asked about the boys. 'They're asleep,' she said, leading him to the crude trestle table he had built for
their kitchen.

He nodded. Later, he would go in and stare at his sons. It did not bother him that they slept so much. He
could feel the reasons for this somewhere within himself.

Honida had hottrodi soup waiting for him on the table. It was spiced with hydroponic tomatoes and
peas and contained other things which he knew she gathered from the land without telling the scientists.

Whatever she put in front of him, Kroudar ate. There was bread tonight with an odd musty flavor which
he found pleasant. In the light of the single lamp they were permitted for this room, he stared at a piece of
the bread. It was almost purple-like the sea. He chewed it, swallowed, Honida, watchfully eating across
from him, finished her bread and soup, asked: 'Do you like the bread?'

'I like it'

'I made it myself in the coals,' she said.

He nodded, took another slice.

Honida refilled his soup bowl.

They were privileged, Kroudar realized, to have this privacy for their meals. Many of the others had
opted for communal cooking and eating-even among the technicians and higher echelons who possessed
more freedom of choice. Honida had seen something aboutthis place, though, which required secrecy
and going private ways.

Kroudar, hunger satisfied, stared across the table at her. He adored her with a devotion that went far
deeper than the excitement of her flesh. He could not say the thing she was, but he knew it. If they were
to have a future here, that future was in Honida and the things he might learn, form and construct of
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himself with his own flesh.

Under the pressure of his eyes, Honida arose, came around the table and began massaging the muscles
of his back-the very muscles he used to haul the nets.

'You're tired,' she said. 'Was it difficult out there today?'

'Hard work,' Kroudar said.

He admired the way she spoke. She had many words at her disposal. He had heard her use some of
them during colony meetings and during the time of their application for mating choice. She had words for
things he did not know, and she knew also when to speak with her body rather than with her mouth. She
knew about the muscles of his back.