"Brian Daley "Han Solo at Stars' End"" - читать интересную книгу автора

Standard Operating Procedure."
Han steeled himself and handed his blaster over butt-first to an Espo sergeant as Atuarre nodded to the major. "Of course, of course. We must never ignore the proprieties, must we? Now, my dear, dear Gen-eral, if you'd be so gracious..."
He realized with a start that she was waiting for his arm, and extended it stiffly, his face livid. The Espos, knowing their commanding officer's temper, hid their grins carefully. They formed up a hasty honor guard as Han hit the ramp control. The ramp pulled itself up quickly and the hatch rolled closed. They would reopen for no one but himself, Chewbacca, or one of the Trianii.
The major, after sending a runner ahead, led the group off through the tunnel-tube mazework. They were a long walk from the tower, and passed through several of the tread-mounted junction stations, to the surprised gazes of black-coveralled tech controlmen. Their footsteps and Bollux's clanking joints echoed through the tunnel-tubes, and the new arrivals noticed a gravity markedly lighter than the Standard gee main-tained onboard the Millennium Falcon. Air in the tubes had the tang of hydroponics recycling, a welcome change from shipboard.
They came at last to a large, permanent air lock. Its outer hatch swung open at a verbal order from the major. Han caught a quick glimpse of what he knew must be the tower's side, surrounded by the tunnel-tube's seal, that confirmed something he'd thought he'd sun when landing.
Stars' End, or at least the tower's outer sheath, was molecularly bonded armor, of a single piece. That made it one of the most expensive buildings-no, he cor-rected hlmaelf, the most expensive building-Hah had ever seen. Enhancing the molecular bonding of dense metals was a costly process, and doing it on this scale was something he'd simply never heard of.
Inside the tower, they passed down a long, broad corridor to the central axis, which was a service core that also housed elevator banks. They were hurried along, with little chance to gawk, but they did see techs, Authority execs, and Espos coming and going. Stars' End itself didn't appear to be particularly well manned, which didn't jell with the theory that it was a prison.
They entered an elevator with the major and a few of his men and were whisked upward in a high-speed ride. When the elevator opened and they trailed the major out, they found themselves standing beneath the stars, which shone so brightly and were packed so tightly overhead that they seemed more like a mist of light.
Then Han realized they were on top of Stars' End, which was covered with a dome of transparisteeL There was an apron of bright flooring by the elevators. Beyond that began a small glen, complete with mini-ature streamlet, and flowers and vegetation from many worlds, landscaped down to the last bud and leaf. He could hear the sounds of birds and small animals, the hum of pollinating insects, all of which were confined tO the roof garden, he assumed, by partition fields. The glen was cleverly lit by miniature sun-globes of vari-ous colors.
Footsteps to their right made them turn. A man came around the curve of the tower's service core, a tall, handsome patriarch of a man. He wore superbly cut uppermost-exec's attire-a cutaway coat, formal vest, pleated shirt and meticulously creased trousers, set off by a jaunty red cravat. His smile was hearty and con-vincing, his hair white and full, his hands clean and soft, his nails manicured and lacquered. Han instantly wanted to bop him in the skull and dump him down the elevator shaft.
The man's voice was sure and melodious. "Wel-come to Stars' End, Madam Atuarre. I am Hitken, Vice-President Hitken, of the Corporate Sector Au-thority. Alas, you come unheralded, or I'd have greeted you with greater pomp."
Atuarre feigued distress. "Oh, honorable sir, what shall I say? We were contacted by the Guild and asked to serve as a replacement act, at the last moment, as it were. But I was told the Secretary in charge of sched-uling, Hokkor Long, would make all arrangements."
Viceprex Hitken smiled, a charming drawing back of red lips from chalk-white teeth. Han thought how useful that smile and smooth voice must be in Author-ity board sessions. "Totally unimportant," the Vice-prex announced. "Your appearance is thus an unex-pected pleasure."
"Why, how gracious of you! Never fear, my kind Vicprex; we'll distract you from the problems and pressures of your high office!" To herself, though, Atuarre swore Trianii vengeance: If you've hurt my mate, 1 vow I'll see your living heart in my hand!
Hah observed that Hirken wore, at his belt, a small, fiat instrument, a master-control unit. He assumed that the man liked to keep close watch on everything in Stars' End; the unit gave him total control of his do-main.
"I have gathered some of the most prestigious en-tertainers in this part of our galaxy," Atuarre con-tinued. "Pakka here is a premier acrobat, and I myself, in addition to being mistress of ceremonies, perform the traditional music and ritual dance of my people. And here stands our handsome Master Marksman, peerless expert with firearms, to amaze you, worship-ful Viceprex, with his trick shooting."
There was a whistling laugh and a jeering: "Trick shooting of what? Of his mouth, as appears likely?" The speaker appeared behind Viceprex Hitken. He was a reptilian creature, slender and quick of move-ment. Viceprex Hirken chided the humanoid gently. "There, there, Uul; these good folks have come a long way to relieve our tedium." He turned to Atuarre. "Uul-Rha-Shan is my personal bodyguard, and some-thing of an adept with weapons him.qelf. Perhaps a con-test of some sort could be arranged later. Uul has such a droll sense of humor, don't you agree?"
Han was eyeing the reptile, whose bright green scales were marked with diamond patterns of red and white, and whose big black, emotioniess eyes were studying Han. Uul-Rha-Shan's jaw hnng open a bit, exposing fangs and a restless pink tongue. Strapped to his right forearm was a pistol, a disrupter, Hah thought, in a spfing-loaded or power-driven holster of some kind.
Uul-Rha-Shan had taken up a position to Hirken's fight. Han recalled having heard the bodyguard's name before. The galaxy was filled with species, all boasting their exceptional killers. Nonetheless, some individuals rose to a kind of prominence. One of those, an assas-sin and gunman who, it was said, would go anywhere and slay anyone for the fight price, was Uul-Rha-Shan.
Hirkeffs manner had shifted to businesslike de-meanor. "Now, that is the 'droid I requested, I take it?" He inspected Bollux unsmilingly, with a look that put cold danger in the air. "I was most specific with the Guild; I told Hokkor Long precisely what sort of 'droid I desired and stressed that they were to send nothing else. Has Long acquainted you with my de-sires?"
Atuarre swallowed, trying not to let her effusive manner slip. "Of a certainty, Viceprex, he did."
Hirken threw one more skeptical look at Bollux. "Very well. Follow me." He set off, back the way he had come, Uul-Rha-Shan at his heels. The travel-ers and their escort came behind. They left the garden area, coming to an amphitheater, an open expanse surrounded by banks of comfortable seats, separated by partitions of transparisteel.
"Automated fighting is combat at its purest, don't you agree?" Hirken said chattily. "No living creature, no matter how savage, is free of the taint of self-preservation. But automata, ahl They are without re-gard for themselves, existing only to follow orders and destroy. My own combat-automaton is a Mark-X Executioner; there aren't many of them around. Has your gladiator 'droid ever fought one?"
Han's nerves were screaming; he was trying to fig-ure out whom to jump for a weapon if, as he feared, Atuarre bobbled her reply. Any show of hesitation or ignorance now would surely tip their hand to Hirken and his men.
But she improvised smoothly. "No, Viceprex, not the Mark X."
Han was struggling with the jarring revelation. Gladiator 'droid? So that was what Hirken assumed Bollux was. Han had known, naturally, that matching 'droids and other automata in combat was a fad among the wealthy and jaded, but it hadn't occurred to him that Hirken would be among those. He put his brain into overdrive, looking for a way out.
As they walked, a woman joined them, coming from what was evidently a private lift tube. She was short, extremely fat, and trying to hide it with ex-pensive, well-tailored robes. Han thought she looked as if somebody had draped a drogue parachute over an escape pod.
She took Hirken's hand. The Vieeprex endured
the gesture with ill humor. She fluttered a fat, beauti-
fully maintained hand and chortled, "Oh, darling, do
we have company.9"
Hirken turned upon the woman a stare that, Han calculated, was enough to dissolve covalent bonding. The chubby birdbrain ignored it. The Viceprex gritted his teeth. "No, dearest. These people have brought a new competitor for my Mark X. Madame Atuarre and Company, I present my lovely bride, Neera. By the way, Madam Atuarre, what did you say your 'droid's designation is.9" Han jumped in. "He's one of a kind, um, Viceprex. We designed him ourselves and call him Annihilator."
He turned to Bollux.
Bollux looked from Hah to Hitken, then bowed. "Annihilator, at your service. To destroy is to serve, exalted sir."
"But our troupe has other acts to offer," Atuarre was quick to tell Hirken's wife. "Tumbling, dancing, trick shooting, and more."
"0oh, dearest!" the obese woman exclaimed, clap-ping her hands, sliding up against her husband. "Let's see that first! I grow so tired of watching that old Mark X demolish other machinery. How boring and un-couth and crude, reallyI And live performers would be such a relief from those dreadful holotapes and re-corded music. And we have company here so seldom." She made puckering noises which, Han took it, were intended to be kisses to her husband. Hah thought they sounded more like the attack of some inverte-brate.
He saw a chance to solve two problems at once:
how to get Bollux out of the match and how to get a
look around Stars' End on his own. "Uh, honored
Viceprex, I'm also gaffer for the troupe. I have to tell
you, our gladiator 'droid, Annihilator there, was dam-
aged in his last match. His auxiliary management
circuitry needs to be checked. If I could use your
shop, it'd only take a few minutes. You and your wife
could enjoy the other performances in the meantime,"
Hirken looked up at the stars through the dofile and sighed, while his wife giggled and seconded the proposal. "Very well. But make these repairs quickly, Marksman. I'm not much taken with acrobats or dane-ing."
"Sure, right."
The Viceprex summoned a tech supervisor who had been checking the amphitheater's systems and ex-plained to the man what was needed. Then he offered his arm, unwillingly, to his wife. They went to find seats in the amphitheater, with the Espo major and his men ranging themselves around in a loose guard for-marion. Uul-Rha-Shan, with a last, menacing look at Hun, followed along, again positioning himself near Hirken's right.
Since Pakka's acrobatics and Atuarre's dancing would pose no danger to the audience, Hirken hit a control on his belt unit, and the transparisteel slabs forming the arena's walls slid away into floor slots. The Viceprex and his wife settled into luxurious conform-loungers. Pakka readied his props.
Han turned to the supervisor tech who'd been placed at his disposal. "Wait for me by the elevator;