"Niven, Larry - Cloak Of Anarchy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

than we are. I think they'll get bored and stay anyway. Besides-" She stopped.
I said, "Besides that, we're thirsty now."
"Right."
"Ron, have you seen any sign of those rock throwers you collected? Especially the one who knocked down the copseye."
"No."
I wasn't surprised. In this darkness? "Do you remember his . . ." and I didn't even finish.
". . . Yes!" Ron said suddenly.
"You're kidding."
"No. His name was Bugeyes. You don't forget a name like that."
"I take it he had bulging eyes?"
"I didn't notice."
Well, it was worth a -try. I stood and cupped my hands for a megaphone and shouted, "Bugeyes!"
One of the Water Monopoly shouted, "Let's keep the noise down out there!"
"Bugeyes!"
A chorus of remarks from the Water Monopoly. "Strange habits these peasants-" "Most of them are just thirsty. This character-"
From off to the side: "What do you want?"
"We want to talk to you! Stay where you are!" To Ron I said, "Come on." To Jill and Mrs. Hawthorne, "Stay here. Don't get involved."
We moved out into the open space between us and Bugeyes's voice.
Two of the five kids came immediately to intercept us. They must have been bored, all right, and looking for action.
We ran for it. We reached the shadows of the trees before those two reached us. They stopped, laughing like maniacs, and moved back to the fountain.
Ron and I, we lay on our bellies in the shadows of low bushes. Across too much shadowless grass, four men in paper shorts stood at parade rest at the four corners of the fountain. The fifth mars watched for a victim.
A boy walked out between us into the moonlight. His eyes were


shining, big, expressive eyes, maybe a bit too prominent. His hands were big, too-with knobby knuckles. One hand was full of acorns.
He pitched them rapidly, one at a time, overhand. First one, then another of the Water Monopoly twitched and looked in our direction. Bugeyes kept throwing.
Quite suddenly, two of them started toward us at a run. Bugeyes kept throwing until they were almost on him; then he threw his acorns in a handful and dived into the shadows.
The two of them ran between us. We let the first go by: the wide-mouthed blond spokesman, his expression low and murderous now. The other was short and broad-shouldered, an intimidating silhouette, seemingly all muscle. A tackle. I stood up in front of him, expecting him to stop in surprise; and he did, and I hit him in the mouth as hard as I could.
He stepped back in shock. Ron wrapped an arm around his throat.
He bucked. Instantly. Ron hung on. I did something I'd seen often enough on television: linked my fingers and brought both hands down on the back of his neck.
The blond spokesman should be back by now; and I turned, and lie was. He was on me before I could get my hands up. We rolled on the ground, me with my arms pinned to my sides, him unable to use his hands without letting go. It was lousy planning for both of us. He was squeezing the breath out of me. Ron hovered over us, waiting for a chance to hit him.
Suddenly there were others, a lot of others. Three of them pulled the blond kid off me, and a beefy, bloody man in a yellow business jumper stepped forward and crowned him with a rock.
The blond kid went limp.
The man squared off and threw a straight left hook with the rock in his hand. The blond kid's head snapped back, fell forward.
I yelled, "Hey!" jumped forward, got hold of the arm that held the rock.
Someone hit me solidly in the side of the neck.
I dropped. It felt like all my strings had been cut. Someone was helping me to my feet- Ron - voices babbling in whispers, one shouting. "Get him


I couldn't see the blond kid. The other one, the tackle, was up and staggering away. Shadows came from between the trees to play pileup on him. The woods were alive, and it was just a little patch of woods. Full of angry, thirsty people.
Bugeyes reappeared, grinning widely. "Now what? Go somewhere else and try it again?"
"Oh, no. It's getting very vicious out tonight. Ron, we've got to ,;top them. They'll kill him!"
"It's a Free Park. Can you stand now?"
"Ron, they'll kill him!"
The rest of the Water Trust was charging to the rescue. One of t-hem had a tree branch with the leaves stripped off. Behind them, shadows converged on the fountain.
We fled.
I had to stop after a dozen paces. My head was trying to explode. Ron looked back anxiously, but I waved him on. Behind me the man with the branch broke through the trees and ran toward me to do murder.
Behind him, all the noise suddenly stopped.