"Andre Norton - Moon Singer 1 - Moon of Three Rings" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

been entombed with pomp. The people still enacted a kind of play of this
feat, followed by games in which the lords vied with one another, each
backing his personal champions. The winners of each contest carried off
enough awards and prestige—not for himself alone but also for his
patron—to last until the next fair.


II
The government of Yiktor was at the feudal stage. Several times in its
history kings and conquerors had risen to unite whole continents under
their sway for perhaps their lifetimes. This unification sometimes
extended into the following generation, or maybe two, but eventually fell
apart through quarrels of the nobles. The pattern had held constant with
no advancement. The priests, though, had vague traditions that there had
been an earlier civilization which had risen to a position of greater
stability and technical knowledge.

No one knew the reason for the stagnation at this step of civilization,
and no native appeared to care, or to believe there could be another way of
life. We had arrived during one of the periods of chaos wherein half a
dozen lords snapped and snarled at one another. But none had the
backing, audacity, luck, or whatever was demanded of a leader, to take
over. Thus the existing balance of power was a delicate thing.

This meant for us Traders brain lock, weapon lock, nuisances though
they were and much as we disliked them.

Far back in Free Trading, for their own protection against the power of
the Patrol and the wrath of Control, the Traders themselves had realized
the necessity of these two safeguards on primitive planets. Certain
technical information was not an item to be traded, no matter how high
the inducement. Arms from off-world, or the knowledge of their
manufacture, were set behind a barrier of No Sale. When we planeted on
such a world, all weapons other than belt stunners were put into a lock
stass which would not be released until the ship rose from that earth. We
also passed a brain lock inhibiting any such information being won from
us.

This might seem to make us unarmed prey for any ambitious lord who
might wish to wring us hard for such facts. But the law of the fair gave us
complete immunity from danger—as long as we stayed within the limits
set by the priests on the first day.

For following almost universal galactic custom, one which appeared to
be spontaneous and native to every world where such gatherings had
existed for ages, the fair ground was both neutral territory and sanctuary.
Deadly enemies could meet there and neither dared put hand to weapon.
A crime could be committed elsewhere and, if the criminal reached the
fair and was law-abiding therein, he was safe from pursuit or punishment
as long as the fair continued. The gathering had its own laws and police,