"James Patrick Kelly - Fruitcake Theory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kelly James Patrick)

unverifiable, since we’re not allowed to follow roosters
onto the starship.
When we pull up to the entrance of the Live Night Mall,
Balfour herself gets onto the van. She nods at the two
of us and then approaches the rooster.
"You will have an hour. I’m afraid that’s as much as we
can do, one hour. These two will accompany you for one
hour. Anything you want, these two will obtain for you.
Do you understand everything? These two? One hour? "Even
though she won’t admit it, it’s obvious that Balfour,
too, thinks that the rooster hasn’t got the brains that
God gave to spinach.
=Kuvat pay? That is the habit.=
"No," said Balfour. "These two will pay for everything."
=Person, is there fruitcake? This one hears much of the
information of fruitcake.=
"Fruitcake?" Balfour glances back at us, as if we have
some idea what the rooster is talking about. Bjorn
shrugs. "I’m sure there’s fruitcake somewhere at the
mall," Balfour says.
=The fruitcake solves much hunger.=
As we get off the van, Balfour touches my arm. I let
Bjorn go on ahead with the rooster.
"Any trouble?" she says.
"Not so far."
"Well, there is now. Kasaan is on her way here from the
U.N."
"Here as in here? Why?"
She gives me an exasperated glare. "Maybe she realized
there are only two more shopping days until Christmas."
Balfour is as mystified by Kuvat behavior as the rest of
us, but she’s Undersecretary for Alien Affairs. When
people have questions, she’s expected to give answers.
Sometimes that vein in her left temple pulses like a
blue worm.
"You want to pull our guest out?" This would be the
first time a rooster and a scarecrow have met outside
the starship compound. It’s a chance to observe new
behaviors -- but the mall is so public.
"I don’t think so. No."
"Tell him about Kasaan?"
She rubs her eyes and I realize that she probably
dragged herself out of bed for this. "Maybe he already
knows. Look, I’ve seeded the mall with our people. We’re
going to let this happen, okay? It’s the good old
observe and protect. I just wanted to give you a heads
up." She turns away but catches herself. "How’s Bjorn
working out?"
"He should do more sit ups."
She sighs, but the vein subsides. "It’s two-thirty in