"Donald Westlake - SH4 - The World's A Stage" - читать интересную книгу автора (Westlake Donald E)

Turning about, he looked through the curtain of bent molecules at his shipmates settling down for the night
on the duty ground, like a small herd from some endangered species. Tell Pam about the sofa? Surely she
wouldn’t mind sharing it. On the other hand, there was the rest of the crew.

Ensign Benson sighed. Pushing open the flap, he called, “Everybody! I found us a room.”




Hestia rose like thunder out of the horizon across the way. “I hear thunder,” Pam said, sitting up on the
sofa, squinting in the rosy light, looking tousled and adorable and unavailable.

The other earthlings, less adorable, rose from their beds of chair curtains and window draperies. “Rain,”
grumbled Ensign Benson, stretching his stiff, sore back. “Just to make things perfect.”

But there was no rain, and when the thunder stopped, it became obvious that the sound had actually been
some sort of approaching motor. For a few seconds the earthlings waited in silence, contemplating their
morning mouths, and then an upstage door opened and a heedless young couple in evening dress-black
tie for him, green flapper outfit for her---entered and slammed the door. “Tennis, anyone?” cried the boy,
with a toothy grin; then, as he reacted to the scene onstage, his grin became a toothless O of shock.
“Lor!” he breathed.

The girl stared about in disbelief. “Well, I never!” she said, in character.

Captain Standforth clambered stiffly from his settee, saying, “I’m terribly sorry. Is this your place?”

The young man stared about in well-bred horror. “Look what you’ve done,” he said, “to this set.”

“We’ll fix it right up,” Billy promised, fluffing the pillow that had been his sole companion on the floor.

“I’ve a good mind,” the young man said angrily, “to report you to, report you….”

Ensign Benson and Councilman Luthguster both leaned eagerly toward him. “Yes?” asked the
councilman. “Yes?”

“To the agency!”

“Of course!” cried Ensign Benson.



The vehicle was a four-wheeled land traveler with a simple metal-pipe frame and three rows of bucket
seats. While the Earthfolk piled atop another in the back---Pam deflecting Ensign Benson’s attempt to
pile atop her-the annoyed thespians sat in front, the male kicking the engine to life and hunching over the
handle bars. “We’ll see about this” he said, and off they lurched.

Up a dusty slope they went and over the ridge and down the long, dusty road toward the settlement, a
cluster of small buildings along an X of two streets.
“That’s the colony,” said Ensign Benson, staring around Hester’s shoulder.