"Christopher Stasheff - Rogue Wizard 04 - A Wizard In War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stasheff Christopher)

he was safe now, if not for long.
Behind him, the knight cursed as he reined in, sheering away from underbrush
that was too thick for his horse. "Run, fool, run!" he bellowed. "You'll make
fine sport for the count and his knights, better than any deer! We'll track you
down and spit you like the swine you are!"
Coll ran, turning and twisting through the wood, cursing himself for a fool
indeed. He had killed two soldiers, and the hunt would be on for him in earnest;
the knights for miles around would gather in high spirits to track down the
insolent serf who had dared strike a knight's soldier. He had let his temper,
and the anxiety that had driven him to protect his little sister, make him a
dead man or, at best, an outlaw-if he managed to outsmart and outrun the knights
and their hounds-and all for nothing! The knight would have Dicea after all, and
would probably rape her brutally in revenge on her brother, instead of the more
gentle forcing that, with men of his rank, passed for seduction-and Coll's life
was forfeit, if anyone managed to catch him.
Coll resolved to make sure they never would.
Dirk Dulaine glanced at the ship's viewscreen in disgust. "This is how you go
about choosing which planet's people to help next? Sheer random chance?"
"Not 'sheer.'" Magnus d'Armand looked up from the navigation tank across the
ship's bridge, at his friend. "I eliminated all the planets that do have firm
standards of civil rights, after all."
"Oh, fine! So you cut down the size of the pool to only those planets that do
need help! And what did you do after that? Take the nearest one! Why didn't you
just throw dice, or put the names of the planets on a dart board?"
"How would you recommend I choose, then?"
"Oh, I don't know ... Maybe you could prioritize, for example?"
"An interesting thought!" Magnus stroked his chin, gazing off into space. "By
what criteria should we prioritize? The degree of oppressiveness of the
government?"
"Sounds good. How can you determine it?"
"A nice question. Historically, some governments have been more oppressive than
others. An unchecked aristocracy, for example, tends to allow more individual
exploitation than a monarchy. A king tends to keep the noblemen in check to some
degree, at least, and a person wronged by his lord can apply to the Ring's
justice if he feels unjustly treated. The Roman dictatorships certainly had the
potential for great abuse, but in actuality, the dictator was held in check by
his fellow patricians, especially in the Senate. And the Greek tryants, of
course. . ."
"All right! All right! You've made your point!" Dirk threw up his hands. "We
could debate all day and still be wrong! Any form of government could be
balanced by local factors."
"Oh, I'm not saying it wouldn't take a lot of thought," Magnus protested. "It
would be worth it, though, if it brought us first to the ones who needed us
most."
"Yeah, but while we're taking a year or two thrashing it out, thousands of
people could be dying on the planet we finally decided to help. I see what
you're doing-better to save some now than none eventually, even if they're not
the ones who need it most."
"Need it most? Yes, maybe we could do it that way!" Magnus clapped his hands,
smiling with delight. "An index of human misery! That shouldn't be terribly hard