"Norton, Andre - Solar Queen 02 - Plague Ship" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

urging Grange away from the spacer.

"You have until noon to lift," was Jellico's parting shot as the three in Company livery started toward the
road.

"I don't think that they will," he added to Van Rycke.

The Cargo-master nodded. "You wouldn't in their place," he pointed out reasonably. "On the other hand
they've had a bit of a blast they weren't expecting. It's been a long time since Grange heard anyone say
`no.'"

"A shock which is going to wear off," Jellico's habitual distrust of the future gathered force.

"This," Van Rycke tucked the disc back into his pouch, "sent them off vector a parsec or two. Grange is
not one of the strong arm blaster boys. Suppose Tang Ya does a little listening in--and maybe we can rig
another surprise if Grange does try to ask advice of someone off world. In the meantime I don't think they
are going to meddle with the Salariki. They don't want to have to answer awkward questions if we turn up
a Patrol ship to ask them. So--" he stretched and beckoned to Dane, "we shall go to work once more."

Again two paces behind Van Rycke Dane tramped to the trade circle of the Salariki clansmen. They might
have walked out only five or six minutes of ship time before, and the natives betrayed no particular interest
in their return. But, Dane noted, there was only one empty stool, one ceremonial table in evidence. The
Salariki had expected only one Terran Trader to join them.

What followed was a dreary round of ceremony, an exchange of platitudes and empty good wishes and
greetings. No one mentioned Koros stones--or even perfume bark--that he was willing to offer the off-
world traders. None lifted so much as a corner of his trade cloth, under which, if he were ready to deal
seriously, his hidden hand would meet that of the buyer, so that by finger pressure alone they could agree
or disagree on price. But such boring sessions were part of Trade and Dane, keeping a fraction of attention
on the speeches and "drinkings-together," watched those around him with an eye which tried to assess and
classify what he saw.

The keynote of the Salariki character was a wary independence. The only form of government they would
tolerate was a family-clan organization. Feuds and deadly duels between individuals and clans were the
accepted way of life and every male who reached adulthood went armed and ready for combat until he
became a "Speaker for the past"--too old to bear arms in the field. Due to the nature of their battling lives,
relatively few of the Salariki ever reached that retirement. Short-lived alliances between families
sometimes occurred, usually when they were to face a common enemy greater than either. But a quarrel
between chieftains, a fancied insult would rip that open in an instant. Only under the Trade Shield could
seven clans sit this way without their warriors being at one another's furred throats.

An hour before sunset Paft turned his goblet upside down on his table, a move followed speedily by every
chieftain in the circle. The conference was at an end for that day. And as far as Dane could see it had
accomplished exactly nothing--except to bring the Eysies into the open. What had Traxt Cam discovered
which had given him the trading contact with these suspicious aliens? Unless the men from the Queen
learned it, they could go on talking until the contract ran out and get no farther than they had today.

From his training Dane knew that ofttimes contact with an alien race did require long and patient handling.
But between study and experiencing the situation himself there was a gulf, and he thought somewhat
ruefully that he had much to learn before he could meet such a situation with Van Rycke's unfailing