"Norton, Andre - Solar Queen 03- Voodoo Planet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

his word alone--even if they were fronting a rain of Thorkian death darts and that order was to advance.
But, on the other hand, Dane would never have asked a favor, and the best he hoped for was to be able to
perform his duties without unfavorable comment upon their commission. He had no reason to believe
Jellico was willing to agree to this.

"You have two weeks' planet-side leave coming, Thorson. If you want to spend it on Khatka . . . " Jellico
actually grinned then. "I take it that you do. When do we up-ship, sir?"

"You said that you must wait for the return of your other crew members--shall we say mid-afternoon
tomorrow?" The Chief Ranger stood up and put Sinbad down though the cat protested with several sharp
meows.

"Small lion," the tall Khatkan spoke to the cat as to an equal, "this is your jungle, and mine lies elsewhere.
But should you ever grow tired of traveling the stars, there is always a home for you in my courts."

When the Chief Ranger went out the door, Sinbad did not try to follow, but he uttered one mournful little
cry of protest and loss.
"So he wants a troubleshooter, does he?" Tau asked. "All right, I'll try to hunt out his goblins for him; it'll
be worth that to visit Khatka!"

Dane, remembering the hot glare of the Xecho spaceport, the sea one could not swim in, contrasted that
with the tri-dees he had seen of the green hunters' paradise on the next planet of the system. "Yes, sir!" he
echoed and made a haphazard choice for the cooker.

"Don't be too lighthearted," Tau warned. "I'll say that any stew which was too hot for that Ranger to
handle might give us burned fingers--and quick. When we land on Khatka, walk softly and look over your
shoulder, and be prepared for the worst."


II

LIGHTNING PLAYED along the black ridges above them, and below was a sheer drop to a river which
was only a silver thread. Under their boots, man-made and yet dominating the wildness of jungle and
mountain, was a platform of rock slabs, fused to support a palace of towering yellow-white walls and
curved cups of domes, a palace which was also half fortress, half frontier post.

Dane set his hands on the parapet of the river drop, blinked as a lightning bolt crackled in a sky-splitting
glare of violet fire. This was about as far from the steaming islands of Xecho as a man could imagine.

"The demon graz prepare for battle." Asaki nodded toward the distant crackling.

Captain Jellico laughed. "Supposed to be whetting their tusks, eh? I wouldn't care to meet a graz that could
produce such a display by mere tusk whetting."

"No? But think of the reward for the tracker who discovers where such go to die. To find the graveyard of
the graz herds would make any man wealthy beyond dreams."

"How much truth is there in that legend?" Tau asked.

The Chief Ranger shrugged. "Who can say? This much is true: I have served my life in the forests since I