"Mike Resnick - Ivory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

later a robot entered the room, bearing a single glass on a polished silver tray.

“Thank you,” said Son-of-Man as the robot placed the drink on the table.

“You are welcome, Honored Sir,” replied the robot in a grating monotone.

“He looks so ludicrous!” tittered Son-of-Man as the robot walked away. “A metal monstrosity shaped
like a man!”

“What's wrong with metal?” asked the Iron Duchess, as the reflected glow of a blue lightning bolt
illuminated her platinum nails and titanium teeth. “It wears a lot longer than flesh.”
“Oh, my dear lady!” said Son-of-Man. “I meant no disrespect, truly I did not. Please believe me.”

She stared at him coldly, her pupils contracting slightly as tiny microchips within each eye made instant
adjustments to the light of the explosions just beyond the viewport.

“I forgive you,” she said at last.

“Thank you. I assure you that—”

“I forgive you,” she repeated. “That does not mean I believe you.”

“Enough talk,” rumbled the Gorgon. “It is time to play.”

“In a minute,” said Tembo Laibon, calling his consciousness back from the green African savannah where
it spent most of its time. “Two more participants have arrived.”

“Can they afford the game?”

“Nobody gets into this room without an invitation,” Tembo Laibon assured him. “They can afford it.”

There was a momentary silence, and then the panel in front of Tembo Laibon flashed a silent message.
He frowned and looked up.

“My robots tell me there arethree of them out there.”

“Who is the third?” asked the Iron Duchess.

“They're not sure. She looks likes a human female, but the readings are all wrong.”

“I hope she's pretty,” said Son-of-Man with what it thought was rugged masculine enthusiasm.

Tembo Laibon tapped a message on his panel. “Let's let them in and find out.”

A moment later the door slid back, and two men and a woman stepped into the room. One of the men
was powerfully built, broad and burly, with curly black hair and small dark eyes; he was Ajax the First,
the brawn of the pair. The brain was small and wiry, and sported a bushy red beard; he was Ajax the
Second. More than twenty outpost worlds had posted rewards for their capture, and yet they moved
freely across the Outer Frontier and the Rim, and more than one bounty hunter who had tracked them
down had wished he had gone after easier prey.